Berri calls for legislative session to extend municipalities term
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called Thursday for a legislative session that will take place on Tuesday and during which the MPs will vote on a draft law for extending the municipalities' term.
Two draft laws have been submitted by Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab and MP Sajih Atiyeh. The first aims at extending the municipalities' term by 4 months, and the second extends the municipal councils' term by a year.
MPs from the Progressive Socialist Party and the Free Patriotic Movement said they will attend the session and vote for extending the municipalities' term, although Parliament cannot legislate before the election of a president.
The Lebanese Forces party, for its part, said it won't attend the session.
Its leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that the bloc will convene to take the appropriate steps after Berri called for a legislative session.
"Parliament is an electoral body and cannot legislate," he said.
The Parliament bureau convened later on Thursday to agree on the legislative session's agenda, including the two draft laws regarding the extension of the municipalities' term.
"The extension of term is technical to avoid vacuum," Bou Saab said after the parliament bureau's session, adding that in case funding is secured, the municipal elections can still take place.
Source: Naharnet
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