On Tuesday, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri inaugurated the session devoted to electing members of parliamentary committees, in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of the parliament’s bylaws.
Elections began with the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee selecting 17 members out of 21 candidates.
The vote counting of the Finance and Budget Committee ended after about 2.5 hours with 5 Independent MPs, 5 from Amal & Hezbollah, 3 FPM, 2 Lebanese Forces (LF), 1 Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and 1 Opposition MP.
Among the 5 MPs from Amal & Hezbollah in this committee is the controversial figure Ali Hassan Khalil, a suspect in the Beirut Blast who has been evading interrogation.
Here are the details:
| Ibrahim Kanaan | Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) |
| Raji el-Saad | Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) |
| Ali Hassan Khalil | Amal & Hezbollah |
| Ayoub Hmayed | Amal & Hezbollah |
| Alain Aoun | Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) |
| Jihad Al-Samad | Independent |
| Hassan Fadlallah | Amal & Hezbollah |
| Ghada Ayoub | Lebanese Forces (LF) |
| Jean Talouzian | Independent |
| Fouad Makhzoumi | Independent |
| Ali Fayyad | Amal & Hezbollah |
| Ghassan Hasbani | Lebanese Forces (LF) |
| Ibrahim Mneimneh | Opposition |
| Ghazi Ziater | Amal & Hezbollah |
| Salim Aoun | Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) |
| Ihab Matar | Independent |
| Michel Moawad | Independent |
This election process featured some tense comments, most notably:
Nabih Berri rejected MP Paula Yacoubian’s request to discuss the issue of the maritime borders, arguing that the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, will visit Lebanon next Sunday.
A debate took place between the MPs Firas Hamdan and Ali Hassan Khalil about the method of candidacy. At a certain moment, Khalil told off Firas Hamdan in a belittling way, saying, “Don’t interrupt me, my son,” which prompted Hamdan’s firm answer: “I am not your son, I am your colleague.”
Here are the results of the election of the other committees voted today, Tuesday, June 7th, with 4 remaining committees that will be voted “another day”, according to Parliament Speaker Berri:
- Foreign Affairs Committee.
- Media & Communication Committee.
- Women & Children Committee.
- Human Rights Committee.
- Administration & Justice Committee.
- Youth and Sports Committee.
- National Defense, Interior & Municipalities Committee.
- Environment Committee.
- Agriculture And Tourism Committee
- Public Works, Transport, Energy, And Water Committee.
- National Economy, Trade, Industry & Planning.
