Security forces in front of the headquarters of the Constitutional Council during a sit-in organized on Nov. 30, 2021. (Credit: Claude Assaf/ L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Constitutional Council on Tuesday suspended a law adopted by Parliament on April 18 to extend the mandates of municipal councils, a member of the Constitutional Council confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.
During the meeting Tuesday, the president of the Constitutional Council Tannous Mechleb appointed a rapporteur charged with preparing a report on the suspended law within a 10-day deadline, after which time the council will begin discussions on appeals, submitted by MPs, for invalidation of the law in question.
The provisional suspension of the law has no immediate practical effect on municipal councils, since their mandates do not expire until May 31.
The Constitutional Council has one month, starting Tuesday, to issue a final decision annulling or validating the law in question.
Appeals to invalidate the law were submitted last week by the Lebanese Forces parliamentary group, as well as by MPs from the Kataeb party, Zgharta MP Michel Moawad, elected members of the opposition and Forces of Change MPs.
The law provides for the extension of the mandates of municipal councils and mokhtars (local elected officials responsible for monitoring certain administrative tasks) for a maximum of one year. Municipal elections, which in 2022 were postponed by one year to be held on May 7, were again postponed last month.