Despite the election of Lebanon’s new President following a 2 year and a half presidential vacuum, the political deadlock is still not over. Members of the Lebanese parliament have extended their own terms claiming that the country would fall into chaos without a President or parliament. So instead of electing the president, they decided to extend their mandate. This literally means that instead of holding an election where people can vote, they decided to skip that part and just reelect themselves.
And they did this not once, but twice!
Chances are, there will be a third time as well. The last time an election was held was 8 years ago, in 2009. Following the election of President Michel Aoun, the country was hopeful that we could also finally hold a parliamentary election which allows the people to vote in new (read same) representatives. However, a new issue is holding up the election this time;
the actual electoral law
. Various groups are fighting on different electoral laws to ensure their people are properly represented and not marginalised.
For months, the different parties have been debating
and rejecting each other’s proposals since, of course, each one is proposing an electoral law that best suits their sect.
The deadline to vote in a law is April 15.Unless a miracle happens
, the parliament will vote to renew their own term – ironically, one of the few things most parliament members can agree on. Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, scheduled Thursday and Friday of this week to “pave the way for extending the parliament’s term.”
For now, the extension of the parliament’s term is opposed
only by President Michel Aoun and his party, the Free Patriotic Movement, as well as the
. Of course,
the majority of Lebanese
, most of whom residing outside the country, still have no way of participating in the elections – unless they fly down to Lebanon.
