MPs Waddah Sadek (L), Michel Moawad (C) and Elias Hankache (R) upon their arrival at the Constitutional Council, April 28, 2023. (Courtesy of the Kataeb)
BEIRUT — A delegation of Kataeb MPs and other parliamentary opposition MPs submitted an appeal Friday to the Constitutional Council to invalidate a law extending the mandates of municipal councils and mukhtars, which Parliament adopted on April 18 as a way to delay municipal elections planned for May.
Their appeal follows a similar one by the Lebanese Forces (LF) on Thursday.
The April 18 law provides for a maximum one-year extension for the mandates of municipal councils and mukhtars.
The municipal elections, which had already been postponed by one year in 2022, were originally scheduled to be held starting May 7. If the adopted law remains valid, the terms of office of the municipal councils and mukhtars will expire no later than May 31, 2024.
Fourteen MPs signed the appeal presented on Friday. They are Kataeb MPs Sami Gemayel, Nadim Gemayel, Elias Hankach and Salim Sayegh; MPs from the "Renewal Bloc" Michel Moawad, Ashraf Rifi, Fouad Makhzoumi and Adib Abdel Massih; independents Charbel Massaad and Michel Daher; and Forces of Change MPs Waddah Sadek, Elias Jaradeh, Michel Doueihy and Marc Daou.
Moawad told reporters Friday that the appeal aims to "preserve democracy and what remains of the Lebanese government and its institutions."
"The challenge today is to avoid politicizing the Constitutional Council," Moawad added, speaking at a press conference. He said that the two appeals on Thursday and Friday were presented separately to maximize the chances of a positive outcome in this case.
Kataeb spokesperson Patrick Richa told L'Orient-Le Jour Friday that there was a "difference of opinion" on the content of the two separate appeals.
Meanwhile, Sadek (Forces of Change/Beirut II) told the press that Friday's initiative is "a first step to end the violation of the constitution" by politicians. "Everything was in place to hold the elections. If the government had used the Special Drawing Rights [SDR] money, we would not be in this situation," he said.
During a joint parliamentary committees session in March, Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel demanded that the government disburse part of the SDR granted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance the cost of elections. This move was also supported by the LF, but was opposed by other political parties.
Along with the LF and Kataeb, Walid Joumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), also spoke out against the decision to delay the municipal elections.