After the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, announced in March that his ministry was fully prepared to conduct municipal and optional elections starting from the northern governorate and Akkar on May 7 until May 28 in the southern governorate, it seems this electoral process has not taken a legislative path and has become postponed. This was evident from the discussions and debates during the joint committees session held today, Wednesday, in the Parliament to study several draft laws, the most important of which is the funding of municipal elections.
The "municipal session" saw the absence of both Finance Minister Youssef Khalil and Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, while their representatives attended. This led Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab to state, "This issue requires not only the presence of the Interior and Finance Ministers but should also have the Prime Minister present; this is not a matter to joke about." In his remarks after the joint committee session, Bou Saab mentioned that the representative of the Interior Minister, Ms. Faten Younes, responded to a question about the ministry's readiness on this matter by saying, "As of now, there is not a single penny," and he questioned, "Whose responsibility is this?" He concluded by saying, "Logistically, things have become difficult, and while some insist on conducting municipal elections, this decision lies with the government and not the legislative council. The government was supposed to hold emergency meetings day and night to find solutions." He added that the government could secure funding through SDR, the Special Drawing Rights given by the International Monetary Fund, which Lebanon can benefit from as a member.
According to MP Ghassan Hasbani, the Lebanese state has spent $740 million from SDR and could allocate $8 million for municipal elections, which is the amount the Ministry of Interior has earmarked for this process. It is worth noting that Lebanon had received $1.1 billion from the IMF in 2021 as part of the special drawing rights to tackle the economic crisis it faces.
After the session ended, Deputy President of the Lebanese Forces Party, MP George Adwan, held the "government, its president and members, and any team that contributed to this government, responsible for aborting these elections and all that results from the absence of a transfer of authority and the activation of the municipalities' role." He confirmed that the Strong Republic Bloc will not attend public bodies to legislate any matter, regardless of its content, before electing a President for the Republic, and therefore "will not attend legislative sessions to extend the current municipal councils." He reiterated the demand for the government to do everything necessary to conduct the municipal elections and allocate funds from the SDR.
MP Qassem Hashim explained in a statement to "Warda" that "there was a discussion with Ms. Faten Younes, the representative of Minister Mawlawi, about the available capabilities in the Ministry of Interior and the liquidity situation, to which we got a response that there are no financial amounts available so far." He stated that, accordingly, "there is no possibility to conduct the elections, and there will be a draft law proposed by Elias Bou Saab to extend the municipal and optional councils due to the lack of logistical and financial capabilities, in addition to the absence of staff in official departments."
MP Firas Hamdan confirmed his position "in favor of holding the elections on time," expressing his regret that "what is happening in the country is a failure, incapacity, negligence, and a throwing of responsibilities between Parliament and the government."
As for member of the Strong Lebanon Bloc, Alain Aoun, he accused the government of not being serious, especially since when the Interior Minister sent a request to open credits, it was scheduled for discussion but not addressed in the Cabinet, concluding that elections will not take place in May. There are several proposals for an extension that would be discussed with the government regarding "the possibility of conducting them after 4 months, 6 months, or a year, and this will be determined if the government can resolve its issues."
Bou Saab... Towards Extension
In light of these discussions and the passing of responsibilities, MP Elias Bou Saab, in his personal capacity, has proposed a law to extend the municipal and optional councils for 4 months, urging all blocs to support it. He added that he would communicate with Speaker Nabih Berri, attributing the reasons to financial, administrative, and logistical obstacles, as well as the shortage in capabilities and personnel, especially with the ongoing strike of public sector employees and the unpreparedness of the teachers involved in monitoring the electoral process. Bou Saab accused the government of lacking seriousness in conducting elections, justifying this by setting the date for the first round at the beginning of May without an assessment of the capacity to accept candidacy requests and secure its documents.
