BATROUN,
Lebanon: The municipal council in a north Lebanon village faces collapse, just
days after by-elections were held in over three dozen towns and villages across
the country.
Ebrin’s
municipal council is teetering after the deputy mayor and five council members
submitted their resignations Monday morning, hours after by-elections wrapped
up. By-elections are not held regularly and if the council collapses, Ebrin may
have to spend several months waiting for a new local government.
Following
disputes among the 12 members of the municipal council over local development
projects, Deputy Mayor Majed Tanious from the Free Patriotic Movement submitted
his resignation to the qaimaqam. Council members Ghassan Assaf – from the
Marada Movement – Alain Wakim, Antoine Nassif, Camille Roukoz – all from the
FPM – and Fares Tannous from the Lebanese Forces also resigned. The
resignations were sent to the governor of north Lebanon Tuesday, but have not
yet been signed.
The
council was elected in 2010 with two members from the March 14 camp, and 10
from their March 8 rivals. But one member told The Daily Star that resignations
were not a reflection of current national political divisions.
According
to Tanious, the dispute centered on “mismanagement and unilateral
decision-making” by the mayor.
“[This]
led us to submit our final resignations after trying for two years to engage in
dialogue with the mayor. Because of our respect for the trust given to us by
the residents of Ebrin, we don’t want to continue in our posts if we can’t
achieve their demands,” he said, adding “Our decision to resign is final.
For
his part, Ebrin Mayor Sassine Fares told The Daily Star that he has not given
up hope of a compromise and is working to convince the members to withdraw
their resignations. According to Fares, some council members have been trying
to encroach on his authority and three of them have ambitions to become the
village’s mayor.
“I’ve made many phone calls
to politicians, but they told me they don’t intervene in municipal affairs ...
I hope that we arrive at a solution and they reverse their decision as soon as
possible, since the village requires true efforts for development to take
place,” Fares said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/May-10/172883-municipal-council-in-north-on-brink-of-collapse-days-after-by-elections.ashx#axzz1uMmgVfAw
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