Abdel Hamid Karameh, the new president of Tripoli's municipality. (Credit: Michel Hallak)
Abdel Hamid Karameh was elected president of Tripoli's municipality on Thursday with 13 votes, against 11 for his rival, Wael Zmorly, more than two weeks after the municipal and mokhtar elections were held in the region.
The vote took place at the Serail of Lebanon's second city, under the supervision of the acting secretary-general of the North Lebanon governorate, Iman Rafai. Abdallah Kabbara was elected president of Mina's municipality, a neighboring locality of Tripoli.
After a three-year delay, the municipal elections in North Lebanon and Akkar took place on May 11. Among the six lists competing for the 24 seats of Tripoli's municipal council, only three succeeded in electing candidates: “The vision of Tripoli,” supported by MPs Achraf Rifi and former pro-Syrians Faisal Karameh and Taha Naji, won 12 seats, against 11 for the list supported by Ihab Matar, MP and businessman, and presumably by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati. As for the remaining seat, it went to Ibrahim Obeid, a civil society candidate supporting the list “The City's Guardians.” This election resulted in a configuration opposed to that of the outgoing municipal council.
Najib Mikati extended his congratulations to Abdel Hamid Karameh and Kabbara for their election as heads of the municipalities of Tripoli and Mina. He also praised the members of both municipal councils. “We are convinced that the next stage will see effective municipal work in the service of Tripoli, Mina and their inhabitants,” Mikati emphasized. “Cooperation will be strong within each municipality and between the two. For our part, we will be present, supporting and involved in any initiative that serves the interests of the inhabitants of Tripoli and Mina, as well as in the development of both cities,” he continued.
