Parliament in session, on Sept. 29, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Parliament elected several MPs to key parliamentary positions on Tuesday, including two secretaries and three commissioners on the Parliament Bureau, the body responsible for preparing each session's agenda.
MPs Alain Aoun and Ibrahim Kanaan, both former members of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), were reappointed as secretary of the Bureau and chair of the finance committee, respectively
FPM, Hezbollah and Michel Douaihy
Aoun, reelected unopposed, later thanked his “colleagues for renewing their trust in me, despite attempts by some to undermine their peers out of resentment and political calculations,” referring to the FPM's efforts to block his reelection.
Once an influential member of the party founded by his uncle, former President Michel Aoun, Aoun was expelled in early August 2024 after tensions with party leader Gebran Bassil.
The position of secretary of the Bureau had been the subject of internal negotiations among political parties, as some were pushing for independent MP Michel Douaihy, a member of the protest movement, to be elected.
Earlier that day, Douaihy had announced his decision to back out of the race, citing a “lack of enthusiasm from certain political groups” and “several MPs pointing to the legislature’s term ending in six months,” stating that it's best to "maintain the status quo" until then.
“We were trying to restore some political balance in the Parliament Bureau, which is dominated by Hezbollah's allies,” said Douaihy, adding that “several blocs are still afraid of Speaker Nabih Berri and do not dare challenge him.”
Douaihy said Monday on X that his candidacy for secretary was supported primarily by parties close to him, including fellow protest MPs and the Lebanese Forces, as he urged "the media not to draw hasty conclusions."
Budget vote
Fellow protest movement MP Ibrahim Mneimneh had run for chair of the finance committee, a crucial role since Parliament's first fall session must be devoted solely to voting on the following year's state budget, as per its internal rules and the Constitution.
The finance bill was sent to Parliament in early October and is expected to be discussed in the finance committee before being voted on in a plenary session. The vote should take place before the end of the year, or by the end of January 2026 at the latest. If Parliament fails to pass the bill within this period, the Cabinet may enact it by decree as originally submitted, without considering later amendments.
Other parliamentary committees were reelected as is, except for two changes: LF MP Melhem Riachi joined the Information Committee, replacing fellow party member Ghayath Yazbeck, while independent MP Adib Abdel Massih (close to the Kataeb and Michel Moawad) joined the Technology Committee, replacing MP Farid al-Khazen (close to the Marada).
Expatriate vote: Adwan calls for vote on Foreign Ministry bill
The past two legislative sessions had been disrupted amid political debate over amending the electoral law, ahead of the May 2026 parliamentary elections.
The LF and protest MPs advocate an amendment allowing the Lebanese diaspora to vote for all 128 MPs according to their region of origin. Opposing them, the FPM and the Hezbollah-Amal alliance called for Article 112 of the electoral law (adopted in 2017) to be implemented as is. This article provides for the addition of six seats reserved for the diaspora. Its implementation remains unclear and was suspended for the last two elections.
At the end of the session, LF MP George Adwan called on President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to “place on the agenda” the bill submitted by the Foreign Ministry regarding expatriate voting, and to “put it to a vote.”
On Oct. 13, the Foreign Ministry announced it had submitted a draft law to the secretariat of the Cabinet, proposing to repeal Articles 112 and 122, and marked it as doubly urgent.
“Controversial issues must be submitted to a plenary session, and we pledge to respect whatever decision emerges from it,” Adwan added, saying he refused to “remain in uncertainty regarding the legislative elections.”
