Interior minister Bassam Mawlawi at Beirut's Grand Serail in Sept. 2023. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — Caretaker minister of the interior, Bassam Mawlawi, announced to the parliamentary defense committee on Wednesday that elections for municipal councils and mukhtars will indeed be held on May 12, 19 and 26.
However, the overwhelming majority of observers expected the local elections to be postponed for the third time, this time due to the war between Israel and Hezbollah that has been raging in the south of the country since Oct. 8.
"I am ready to apply the law," said the minister. "I have therefore decided to hold the municipal elections, which will begin in Akkar and end in South Lebanon in the final round of voting." He added: "If the situation remains unchanged two days before the date of the vote in the South, then voting in the municipalities of this region will simply be postponed until the situation stabilizes."
In the past, Mawlawi raised the possibility of a postponement of these elections, telling L'Orient Today that his ministry remained ready to hold the ballot nevertheless, especially since 119 out of 1,061 municipalities are without a municipal council. "I am sure that these deadlines will have positive implications for Lebanon, its image and its democracy," concluded the minister.