MPs extend municipalities term in fiery session, opposition boycotts

Parliament passed Tuesday a law that extends municipalities' term for a second time for up to a year, in a session boycotted by the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, Tajaddod and Change MPs.

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi had urged the government to secure the necessary funds to start the elections on May 7, but government failed to secure the funds.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said in a parliamentary committee session on funding that holding the vote on time would be “impossible" and added that Mawlawi’s representative had told lawmakers they could not secure the funds despite the interior minister's claims.

Two draft laws were submitted by Bou Saab and MP Sajih Atiyeh. The first aimed at extending the municipalities' term by 4 months, and the second extends the municipal councils' term by a year.

During the session, MP Oussama Saad accused caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati of lying to the Lebanese when Cabinet said it is ready for the municipal elections.

Mikati, who attended the session, said that all MPs are lying to the Lebanese, which infuriated the MPs and ignited an argument between MP Ahmad al-Kheir who took Mikati's side and Free Patriotic Movement MPs, including the bloc's leader Jebran Bassil, who criticized Mikati.

"We are ready for the municipal elections but the government isn't," Bassil said after the session.

The LF, Kataeb and Change blocs said before the session that parliament cannot legislate before it elects a president, according to the constitution.

The Kataeb MPs said they won't attend the session and will file an appeal against the "non-constitutional" session.

"These MPs are legalizing the void," Change MP Najat Saliba said in a press conference before the session, as she condemned the postponement of the municipal vote.

MPs from the Progressive Socialist Party and the FPM said that voting for extending the municipalities' term is a responsibility to prevent the void and accused the boycotting MPs of "populism."

"Those who did not attend and are blaming us for attending, did not take their responsibility," Bassil said.

"We are against legislative sessions before a president is elected, but the municipal elections file is exceptional," he added, as he accused Mawlawi of only talking outside parliament. "We didn't hear him say that the ministry is ready for the elections during the session," Bassil said.

The municipality elections were originally slated for May 2022 but were postponed for a year because they coincided with parliamentary elections, which brought in a dozen reformist lawmakers running on anti-establishment platforms.

Both the EU and the U.N. have urged the crisis-hit country to hold elections on time.

Lebanon’s last municipal elections in 2016 saw low voter turnout. In Beirut, local media reported a 20% voter turnout, whereas 48% of voters in Baalbek near the Syrian border cast their ballots.