The "Al-Jumhuriya" newspaper wrote: As the date of the elections on May 15 approaches, the noise from the electoral machines increases, accompanied by populist campaigns that entail sectarian and confessional incitement and occasionally threaten to stir discord. Some exchange insults and slurs, believing that they will thus attract voters, while there is no intervention from the relevant authorities to curb these behaviors that distort the parliamentary entitlement both in form and substance, which may cause issues that threaten the electoral process, especially since the doubts about its conduct have not faded despite all the practical preparations underway to hold it.
In the midst of electoral campaigns and continuous celebrations announcing electoral lists across the country, the government continues its procedures in this regard. At the same time, it is moving to begin referring the reforms included in the recovery plan through draft laws to the parliament. This starts with the cabinet session that will be held tomorrow at eleven in the presidential palace, with 29 items on its agenda, the most important of which relate to the presentation that Prime Minister Najib Mikati will make regarding the preliminary agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund, followed by the draft law concerning the amendment of banking secrecy that will be circulated to the ministers during the session, and the draft law that seeks to permit the government to borrow from the Central Bank of Lebanon under Article 91 of the Monetary and Credit Law and a decree to refer this draft law to the parliament.
### Ambiguities Around Amendments
Ministerial sources questioned the reasons behind the ambiguities surrounding some matters that are not clearly presented to the cabinet. They told "Al-Jumhuriya": "We have not received any draft or details regarding the amendment of banking secrecy listed on the agenda, nor the restructuring of banks. The agreement states that the cabinet will approve a strategy for the restructuring of banks that acknowledges the significant losses in the sector and addresses them while considering the protection of small depositors and minimizing reliance on public financial resources, with the approval of the parliament on legislation for an emergency banking resolution deemed necessary to implement the banking restructuring strategy and start the process of returning the financial sector to a healthy state, which is essential to support growth. There is also the initiation of evaluating one bank after another with external assistance for the 14 largest banks through signing terms of reference with a prestigious international company, yet this file has not been discussed within the cabinet, and there are several details and questions we need answers to, particularly regarding the fate of depositors' funds and the mechanism for distributing losses."
### Settling Payments
Additionally, the agenda for the cabinet session also includes a presentation by the Ministry of Finance concerning the use of special drawing rights specifically for settling the prices of wheat and flour and the cost of medicines intended for import as a settlement, in addition to settling payments for loans benefiting Arab and international funds and institutions, granting the Electricity of Lebanon a treasury advance for general maintenance, and a presentation by the Council for Development and Reconstruction regarding specific proposals to address the repercussions of the financial and monetary crisis on public works and services contracts, as well as a draft to determine the allowances for expatriation for foreign service employees according to the new proposed formula to reduce salaries by a certain percentage in light of the financial and monetary crisis.
### The Beirut Silos and Trials
On the agenda of the session is also a report presented by the "Khatib and Alami" institution related to the silos of the Port of Beirut damaged by the explosion, and a draft law aiming to amend some provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law related to the Judicial Council concerning the Beirut Port explosion case on August 4, 2020, another draft law aimed at modifying some provisions of the Social Security Law and establishing a system against unemployment, and a draft law to amend Article 387 of the Penal Code and another concerning amending Article 15 of Decree 10434 dated June 14, 1975 of the State Council System. There are also various financial, administrative, judicial, and medical items on the agenda, including a set of draft decrees to transfer financial appropriations from the budget reserve to the budgets of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and some ministries and public institutions according to the twelfth rule.
### Capital Control
On another note, while the joint parliamentary committees are set to begin discussing the "capital control" draft law referred by the government to the parliament today, "Al-Jumhuriya" learned that the text of this draft law had not reached the emails of the deputies even by yesterday afternoon, which generated an impression among political circles that the official handling of it is still ambiguous despite being a vital requirement for the International Monetary Fund and part of the preliminary agreement signed with it days ago. These circles questioned through "Al-Jumhuriya": "How will the discussion of this law commence seriously if those responsible for studying it have not had sufficient and adequate access to it before the meeting of the joint committees?"
### Visit of the Saudi Ambassador to Baabda
In the meantime, in the context of normalizing relations between Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari is scheduled to visit Baabda Palace this morning, where he will be received by President Michel Aoun. The meeting is expected to include discussions on recent developments following the return of Bukhari and some ambassadors from the Gulf Cooperation Council to Beirut after a diplomatic estrangement that lasted from last November until the recent days. Bukhari is expected to later visit Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. He had previously toured religious and Islamic as well as Christian references the day before yesterday.
### Qatari Ambassador's Credentials
On another diplomatic front, "Al-Jumhuriya" learned that the new Qatari ambassador to Lebanon, Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Mohammed Saleh Al-Sahlawi, will present his credentials to the President of the Republic in the morning, hastening to begin his diplomatic mission after arriving in Beirut the day before yesterday, succeeding the previous ambassador who left months before the Gulf diplomatic boycott of Lebanon.
### Political Positions
In political stances, the "Strong Lebanon" bloc warned after its weekly electronic meeting of the "epidemic of political money that some parties have polluted the electoral process with, which constitutes documented electoral fraud for the parliamentary entitlement, something only those deeply involved in it can remain silent about." It affirmed that it is "in the process of submitting a draft law to regulate electoral spending to minimize the existing fraud." It emphasized "the necessity of distancing external influences from the political and electoral process in Lebanon and not allowing diplomatic missions and ambassadors to interfere in internal affairs and electoral matters, as scenes of the ruling political system in Lebanon gathering at the tables of embassies and in their salons and offices are recurring and increasing, almost reminding us of the days of Anjar." It underlined "the importance of passing the capital control law to protect depositors and ensure equality in treatment, but at the same time it will not accept anything that allows absolving any party involved in money laundering and transferring it abroad."
### Flour Crisis Eases
On another front, the flour crisis is expected to begin easing today, provided that matters proceed as procedurally expected. Sources monitoring this crisis clarified to "Al-Jumhuriya" that the ball is now in the court of the Ministry of Agriculture, which had not completed all the necessary administrative procedures for the entry of imported wheat quantities until yesterday. It is worth noting that the Central Bank of Lebanon opened credits for wheat ships following Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Finance Minister Youssef Khalil's decision to withdraw $15 million exceptionally from Lebanon's special drawing accounts to secure the market's needs for wheat. It is anticipated that in the coming hours, the demand for bread will decrease and the commitment to operation in mills and bakeries will return. It is known that this credit was secured from the special withdrawals included on the agenda of the cabinet session that will take place tomorrow, and this exceptional withdrawal will be approved to secure wheat and flour. Financial sources revealed to "Al-Jumhuriya" that this crisis will recur after a month due to the absence of a fundamental solution, and it is expected to follow the same path as the current situation continues.
### Release of Raja Salama
On the judicial level, the indictment body in Mount Lebanon, headed by Judge Pierre Francis, approved the decision to release Raja Salama, the brother of the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, and to reduce the bail from 500 billion lira to 200 billion. Salama's attorney, Marwan Issa Khoury, had submitted an appeal against the decision of the first investigating judge in Mount Lebanon, Nicolas Mansour, to the indictment body in Mount Lebanon, to reduce the financial bail after the decision to release Salama in exchange for a financial bail of 500 billion lira.
### Corona
On the health front, the number of COVID-19 infections continued to decline, as the Ministry of Public Health reported today 108 new cases (108 local and 0 imported), raising the total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020 to 1,094,911. The report also recorded 5 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 10,349.
