Daily Star - Cabinet Postpones Municipal Polls - January 20th, 2010

BEIRUT: The Cabinet decided Tuesday to postpone the municipal elections one month from May to June due to “technical reasons” as a heated debate rose over the issue among various factions regarding discussed reforms to the electoral law particularly demands to divide Beirut to three districts. The elections, which according to the Constitution should be held in May, would be re-scheduled for June if Parliament passes a law based on Tuesday’s Cabinet’s resolution.
Cabinet is scheduled to convene next Tuesday to continue discussing reforms to the municipal electoral law following Premier Saad Hariri’s return from a state official visit to France leaving Lebanon Wednesday.
Prior to the Cabinet meeting Hariri held closed door talks with President Michel Sleiman.
Among the major reforms suggested by Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud’s proposal to the Cabinet, and which is on its way to be approved, was the election of the municipalities’ heads and their deputies based on a direct majority vote as well as the adoption of closed electoral lists for municipalities of more than 21 members to be elected based on proportional representation.
The reforms also include the adoption of a 30-percent female quota and the conclusion of the process over a maximum of a four-phase period while shortening the municipalities’ council term to five from six years.
But the government refrained in its meeting on Tuesday from tackling the issue of administrative appointments, another disputed issue between parties when it comes to the adoption of a procedure to choose candidates based on parity between Christians and Muslims.
However, Sleiman stressed the need to adopt a transparent procedure to choose candidates.
“President Michel Sleiman believes that the Lebanese want the elections to take place on time since stable countries respect deadlines and do not postpone elections,” Information Minister Tarek Mitri said following the Cabinet meeting.
Mitri similarly quoted Hariri, saying that no problems necessitated the postponement of the elections beyond the constitutional deadlines.
As for the ongoing debate over the issue of Palestinian armed groups outside refugee camps, Mitri said the state sovereignty was not subject to negotiation while stressing the implementation of the national dialogue resolution to put an end to weapons outside camps.
Fatah al-Intifida’s representative in Lebanon Abou Moussa said Sunday he rejected the disarmament of Palestinian groups outside refugee camps as well as the formation of a Palestinian committee to sort out the issue.
Abu Moussa broke up with the Palestinian Liberation Organization headed by late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1983 and, backed by Syrian troops, fought against the PLO in bloody clashes in Tripoli and the Bekaa region.
Earlier Tuesday, the Future Movement bloc called for holding the municipal elections within the legal deadline while introducing reforms permitted by the current timeframe.
After a meeting headed by former Prime Minister Fouad
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Siniora, the bloc also rejected dividing Beirut into three districts while stressing its commitment to a convention established by former Premier Rafik Hariri in 1998 which equally divided seats between Christians and Muslims.
However, Progressive Socialist Party head MP Walid Jumblatt, an ally to Hariri despite withdrawing from the March 14 alliance, disagreed with the Future Movement and called for the division of the capital into three districts similar to large cities worldwide.
Jumblatt also voiced support for holding the elections within the legal deadline, saying no party has any interest in postponing the elections.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea questioned Tuesday motives behind proposals to introduce major amendments to the municipal electoral law as a pretext to postpone the process while underscoring the importance of respecting constitutional deadlines.
“Amending the municipal electoral law is a necessary issue as we always support re-evaluating all laws, but I do not understand introducing major amendments which required long discussions before a close deadline,” Geagea said.
Conversely, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun questioned certain stances claiming that reform proposals to the electoral law aimed to delay the municipal elections. “Everyone is looking for a formula to dominate Beirut,” Aoun said.
The FPM leader added that refraining from amending the law would mean deliberate negligence while demanding clarifications with regard to the outcome of the proposed reforms and the timing of the elections.
Tackling the issue of administrative appointments, the Future Movement called for choosing candidates based on merit rather than political affiliations.
Meanwhile, Aoun said that the formation of a committee to discuss procedures to be adopted during the selection of candidates would contradict the constitutional prerogatives of the Cabinet if not passed as a law by Parliament.
Berri had earlier proposed the formation of a judicial committee to choose nominees for state positions.
For his part, Geagea said his party supported the adoption of a transparent procedure to choose nominees by the Cabinet.
On another note, Aoun said the abolition of political sectarianism should be the outcome of abolishing sectarianism, a stance close to that adopted by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, who, in response to Berri, called for abolishing sectarianism from souls before texts.
Geagea, also challenging Berri, said the speaker’s insistence to form a committee tasked with the abolition of political sectarianism aimed to provoke the majority of Lebanese and raised tensions in the absence of any hope to reach his goal.
“With all due respect to the speaker, the majority of parliamentary blocs stated clearly that the circumstances and timing of the proposal was inconvenient,” Geagea said.
However, Jumblatt reiterated support for Berri’s call, adding that the issue was a topic of consensus in the Taif Accord.
Last week, Berri said that the abolition of political sectarianism was not optional but rather mandatory in accordance with the Taif Accord.