IMLebanon

Nine ministers refuse to sign but extension law done deal

 

 

BEIRUT: Eight Christian ministers refused Thursday to sign a draft law extending the Lebanese Parliament’s term, in a symbolic gesture that will not impede the controversial move.

The decision to not endorse the bill means it will pass by default in five days, making the extension of the legislature’s term a fait accompli, ministerial sources told The Daily Star.

“The draft law will go into effect Tuesday, when it is published in the Official Gazette, at the end of the five-day constitutional period which is usually granted to the president to endorse emergency legislation,” one of the sources said.

The Cabinet assumed the powers of the presidency in ratifying legislation after the end of former President Michel Sleiman’s term, with the condition that decrees have to be endorsed unanimously by ministers.

The president normally has five days to reject an emergency bill, otherwise it passes by default.

A total of nine ministers refused to endorse the decree, including those in Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc and the Kataeb Party, along with Minister of the Displaced Alice Shabtini, Sports Minister Abdul-Muttaleb al-Hinawi and Deputy Prime-Minister and Defense Samir Moqbel, who were appointed to the Cabinet as part of Sleiman’s share.

But once the draft bill is passed, it can be challenged, the sources added.

Aoun’s parliamentary bloc, which had boycotted the extension vote, said it would challenge the bill.

The European Union expressed its “regret” at the postponement of the parliamentary elections, calling for the swift passage of a new electoral law and the election of a president.

“The European Union regrets that Lebanese citizens will not be able to exercise their right to vote, and that elections will be postponed once again,” the EU mission in Lebanon said in a joint statement with the bloc’s top diplomats in the country. “The European Union calls on the government of Lebanon and all political parties to make best use of the extension, to speedily advance on a new electoral law as well as on other pressing legislation.”

In meetings Thursday, Speaker Nabih Berri revealed fresh details of the new electoral law that would be debated by a committee chaired by him later this month.

Berri’s visitors quoted him as saying the draft law would stipulate that half of all MPs would be elected under a winner-takes-all system, while the other half would be elected using proportional representation.

Berri said the plan had been tabled by him in 2013 and was backed by MP Walid Jumblatt and therefore has broader potential backing.

He added that any new election law must adhere to the Taif Accord by adopting the governorate as an electoral district and should have a fixed female quota.

He also said legislative activity would continue in Parliament following the extension.

Discussions in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting also covered the contracts of mobile phone operators, oil prospecting tenders and progress in government efforts to free the captive Army and police personnel.

The sources said Prime Minister Tammam Salam briefed the Cabinet on progress in the bid to win the release of 27 servicemen who have been held by jihadist groups from Syria for more than three months.

Speaking after the end of the Cabinet session, Information Minister Ramzi Joreige quoted the prime minister as saying that the hostage case “was difficult and complicated and that there was some progress, which we hope can reach positive results.”

The government also agreed to postpone discussions on the tender to manage and operate the two state-owned cellular networks.