Legislative Session Ends after Quorum Lost during Debate of Social Aid Plan

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Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri ended the legislative session on Wednesday after quorum was lost during the debate of a draft law that gives the government LBP 1,200 billion for its coronavirus social aid plan.

TV networks said the session will not resume in the evening or on Thursday.

Parliament also voted against the approval of four draft laws and sent three of them to the parliamentary committees.

The three bills that will be reevaluated by the committees are one for lifting the immunity of ministers, one for suspending works at the Bisri dam project and another for shortening the current term of parliament.

MP Paula Yacoubian, who had submitted the Bisri dam bill, described the project as an “environmental crime.”

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel meanwhile described the draft law for shortening parliament's term as “the most important proposal on the agenda.”

“We need to give people the chance to issue public verdicts,” Gemayel said.

Parliament also dropped another draft law proposed by Yacoubian, which would have banned the display of posters of leaders, officials and employees in public places.

During the session, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the government supports the approval of the bill. But the proposal was dropped in a vote and the word “disgusting” was omitted from the minutes of meeting, the National News Agency said.

The legislature had first convened on Tuesday morning, approving several draft laws and sending others to parliamentary committees for further assessment.

Before Wednesday's session convened, MPs made remarks to reporters.

MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is the secretary of the Strong Lebanon bloc and the head of the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee, urged quick action in light of “the extraordinary financial, economic and social conditions."

"We are on the verge of collapse and the living conditions of people must be given top priority," he said.

On draft laws to try ministers before the ordinary courts, Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah said: “We must reach a result. Until this moment we have been incapable of taking not even one minister before a court. We are ready to proceed with any amendment of the law or the constitution in this context.”

MP Alain Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement said all efforts must be exerted to try corrupt ministers, “otherwise we better admit that we are unable to approach any perpetrator and let them go unpunished.”

On Tuesday, MPs approved a $120 million loan from the World Bank to help fight COVID-19, which has officially infected 682 people and killed 22 nationwide.

Parliament also approved a law for establishing a national commission for combating corruption and another for constructing a tunnel that would link the Bekaa region to the capital Beirut.

It meanwhile voted against approving a contentious general amnesty law in an urgent manner and sent the bill to parliamentary committees for reevaluation. The committees have been granted a 15-day deadline to complete the task.

The legislature also approved a bill legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medical use amid the objections of Hizbullah's bloc and several independent MPs.

SourceNaharnet
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