Lebanon’s new government?
Lebanon’s new government?
After handily winning parliament's vote of confidence Dec.
28 with 87 out of 92 votes, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his
new unity government will now tackle their top priorities, which
include protecting Lebanon from fallout from the Syrian civil war.
Other
leading items on the agenda include approving a 2017 budget,
stimulating the economy, and taking immediate action to address
electricity and water problems as well as difficulties with traffic and
solid waste treatment.
Priorities also include developing a strategy to prevent corruption,
fighting terrorism and speeding up license approvals for oil exploration
and extraction.
Hariri
managed Dec. 18 to form the first government in two years, under
President Michel Aoun, despite differences that erupted between the
major blocs over the number of ministers and their responsibilities.
Hariri’s national
consensus government has a total of 30 ministers representing the
country’s major parliamentary blocs and parties, with the exception of
the Christian Phalanges Party, which rejected the state ministry
position it was offered. The government includes seven state ministers,
and six new state ministries have been established, for women's affairs,
anti-corruption, presidential affairs, displaced citizens, human
rights, and planning. The Planning Ministry had been abolished in 1977
and replaced with the Council of Development and Reconstruction.
The
government includes 29 men and only one woman — Minister of State for
Administrative Development Inaya Azzedine, the first veiled minister in
the history of Lebanon. Azzedine is a member of the Shiite Amal
Movement's political bureau.
Aoun
and his party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), have a large share of
the ministries with eight, including the Foreign Ministry, the Defense
Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and the Energy and Water Ministry.
In
addition to the premiership, Hariri and members of his party, the
Future Movement, have six portfolios, including Interior Ministry and
the Telecommunications Ministry.
Besides
Azzedine's position, the Amal movement led by parliament Speaker Nabih
Berri has two portfolios: the Finance Ministry and Agriculture Ministry.
Meanwhile,
the Shiite Hezbollah Party has two portfolios: the Industry Ministry
and the Youth and Sports Ministry. The Shiites waived the Public Works
Ministry to the Marada party, led by Suleiman Franjieh. Hezbollah made
this gesture to thank Franjieh for backing down from his presidential
candidacy; Hezbollah backed Aoun.
Hezbollah
had signed a joint memorandum of understanding with Aoun's FPM on Feb.
6, 2006. The latter supported resistance positions during the Israeli
war on Lebanon in July and August 2006, and later the Shiite group’s
intervention in Syria. This led Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan
Nasrallah to say: “We owe Gen. Aoun a debt until the day of judgment."
Giving
Franjieh’s bloc a basic ministry was one of the main issues that
delayed forming the government, as his bloc has only three parliament
members, which is not enough to allow him to assume such a ministry.
Also, the FPM wanted to prevent Franjieh from getting a basic ministry
as punishment for competing with Aoun over the presidency.
However,
the Lebanese Forces (LF) party led by Samir Geagea got four portfolios,
including the post of deputy prime minister and the Health Ministry.
The LF’s share was a reward from Aoun, who had worked out an arrangement
with LF that allowed him to win the presidency. This came despite
Aoun's and Geagea's being longtime foes.
Their
arrangement earned LF a larger share of posts than it would normally
have. The LF has only has eight parliament members, while the Future
bloc has 33 members and got six ministers. For their part, the Amal and
Hezbollah blocs have 26 parliament members and obtained five ministers.
This led Hezbollah and its allies to object and refuse to give the LF
five ministers or what is termed a "sovereign ministery" (the four
sovereign ministries are defense, foreign affairs, interior, and
finance). As such, the LF share was reduced to four ministers.
The
ministerial statement was drafted in six days, though it was expected
to take longer. The statement is a declaration of the government's
political and economic visions and plans, and is submitted to parliament
to win its confidence. However, the article related to the “resistance
against the Israeli occupation” usually raises differences between the
March 8 alliance and the March 14 coalition, which refuses to mention
the Hezbollah resistance in the statement so as not to bestow legitimacy
on the armed movement.
This
time, however, the statement was drafted in a way that brought together
the inaugural speech of the president and a declaration by the
government of Tammam Salam when he was prime minister regarding the
right to resist the Israeli occupation. The result was as follows: “We
will spare no effort or resistance to liberate any Lebanese territory
that is still under occupation or to protect our country from an enemy
that still has ambitions regarding our land, water and national
resources based on the responsibility of the state and its role in
preserving Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and unity as well as the
safety of the citizens. … The government emphasizes the right of the
Lebanese citizens to resist the Israeli occupation, counter its
aggressions and recover the occupied territories.”
A source close to Hezbollah told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the party was satisfied with the statement.
The
statement stressed the need to work on the imminent approval of a new
and modern law for parliamentary elections, one that grants fair
representation to all the Lebanese people. The elections are supposed to
take place in May.
Adopting
the electoral law will be the biggest challenge to the government as
Aoun, Hezbollah, Amal and their allies are in favor of the proportional
system, while parliament member Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze
bloc, is absolutely against it. The Future Movement and the LF also
reject the law and either support the existing 1960 law,which is based
on a majority system, or a mixed law that combines the majority and
proportional systems.
The
same source explained that should the 1960 majority law remain in
place, Hezbollah would not lose any seats in parliament. Yet, the source
added, the party wants the proportional system to be adopted to ensure
that all groups and currents are fairly represented and to secure
national fusion amid national, rather than sectarian, representation.
In
this context, former Minister of State Karim Pakradouni told Al-Monitor
that Aoun supports the proportional system but will accept
another mixed or majority law that garners the support of all the other
blocs.
Political
analyst Yasser al-Hariri told Al-Monitor no bloc opposes the 1960 law,
even if some blocs say they do. However, a new law that is based on the
majority and proportional systems could be agreed upon provided it leads
to the same results of the 1960 law.
Since
Lebanon is a country of deals and national consensus, all parties
likely would agree on an electoral law that satisfies the major sects
and blocs, although Aoun, Hariri and Berri agree on adopting a new
reformist modern law.
- 03 January 2017
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