Report: Newly Formed Cabinet to Devise Election Law 'Put to the Test'
The first cabinet under the tenure of President Michel Aoun was formed on Sunday, 45 days after the designation of PM Saad Hariri for the task with the aim of approving a new election law to hold the upcoming parliamentary election slated in May 2017 on time.
The new government did not take a lot of time to be shaped, although the formation process witnessed some delay, compared to other governments which took from 6 to 11 months to form, media reports said.
The main task for the newly formed cabinet is to devise a new electoral law to stage the parliamentary elections on time.
“The success of the cabinet depends primarily on the approval of a new electoral law. If it fails, the country will face a dead horizon. All the positions and indicators point to the impossibility of holding the elections based on the 1960 election law and the infeasibility of a new extension of the parliament term, ” unnamed sources told al-Joumhouria daily.
The sources added that the responsibility now lies on President Aoun who vowed in his oath of office to approve a new law for the parliamentary elections, and on the PM who will have to accept the challenge and make his cabinet succeed in its mission.
The line-up of a 30-minister cabinet was announced on Sunday at the Baabda Palace, bringing together most of the political spectrum except for the Kataeb Party that refused to be represented by a state minister.
New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women.
The announcement followed a meeting at the Baabda Palace between President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
The Kataeb Party refused to take part in the cabinet after it was offered a state minister post, media reports said.
Lebanon is due to hold parliamentary elections in May 2017, the first legislative vote in eight years.
The current parliament -- elected in 2009 -- has extended its own mandate twice amid fierce disagreements over revamping Lebanon's electoral law.
"The government will also work on the preparation of a new electoral law," Hariri said on Sunday.
The thorny issue divides religious parties and communities in a country where politics is based on parity between Christians and Muslims.
Source: Naharnet
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