Six or 128? The 16th District law turns into legal battle between Salam and Khalil
Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil hit Friday at Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for being a judge who doesn't respect the law, after the latter said that the current electoral law allows expatriates to vote for all 128 deputies.
Salam's comments come as Lebanon heads to parliamentary elections with ambiguity over how the expats would vote. Amal and Hezbollah are in favor of implementing a suspended law that only allows expats to vote for six newly-introduced seats instead of voting for all 128 seats. They argue that they do not enjoy the same campaigning freedom that other parties enjoy abroad.
The Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb party and the Change MPs want the law amended to allow expats to vote for all 128 MPs.
Salam said Thursday that the current law guarantees the right of expatriates to vote in their countries of residence for the 128 deputies, as long as the current six-seats law is suspended.
Khalil criticized Salam's comments and said he is "surprised" how the PM who "comes from a judicial background" is not committed to respecting existing laws and is rather "interpreting them through a political lens."
"Laws are not suspended by mere statements, amended by personal interpretations, nor altered by political will," Khalil said. "A law can only be halted or amended by another constitutional law."
Before becoming Prime Minister, Salam served as a Judge and then President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Khalil is also a licensed lawyer.
In 2018 and 2022, expats voted for the 128 seats in Parliament. While the current law stipulates that expats should vote for six new seats reserved for the diaspora, that provision was frozen.
Sixty-five MPs, constituting a parliamentary majority, demanded to amend the law in order to allow expats to vote for all 128 seats but Speaker Nabih Berri refused to discuss the amendment in parliament. He insisted that elections should be held according to the current 6 seats law.
Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar said that in order to elect according to the 6 seats law, known as the 16th District law, executive decrees are needed, with the approval of a two-thirds Cabinet majority.
These decrees have not been issued, but Hajjar says he can't stand idly by and wait for the legal texts, as "deadlines must be respected".
Expats would vote on May 1 and May 3, but even the interior minister himself does not know if they can vote from abroad, or if they should come to Lebanon to vote -- the option that Speaker Berri insists on.
