What Is This Techno-Political Government Everyone Is Talking About?

As the Lebanese Parliament’s meeting has been postponed to next week upon the protesters’ call for a general strike, speculations about the outcomes of that session increase. Will Caretaker PM Saad Al-Hariri be the Prime Minister of the upcoming government? Following the rumors saying that several major political parties are in conflict regarding its nature, is there even going to be a new government anytime soon?

So many questions arise every day as the events in Lebanon unfold. After PM Al-Hariri’s resignation back on October 29, many conflicting stories began to surface regarding the future of Lebanon.

According to a source familiar with Al-Hariri’s views, the caretaker Prime Minister is determined to have the next cabinet free of any political parties for fear that such a government would not receive Western support.

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Such a government is exactly what revolutionaries have been calling for since the early days of the October 17 revolution in Lebanon:  A technocratic government in which elected officials appoint experts and professionals to administer individual government functions and recommend legislation, devoid of any of the former political leaders and parties.

But recently, a new term is being thrown around a lot; Techno-Political government.

This idea was proposed as a middle-ground solution, and it translates into a technocratic government with a twist:  The appointed experts and professionals would have to be chosen from within the same traditional parties that currently rule Lebanon, and led by a politician, which is allegedly going to be PM Saad Al-Hariri.

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And obviously, that could pose a serious problem, because such a “solution” to the current crisis would mean that the helm would be back in the hands of the same old rulers, only hiding behind the mask of technicalities and non-political candidates.

This form of government appears to be the most promising agreement that the parties have arrived at so far; promising for them at least.

If such an agreement is indeed finalized, it would only mean another embarrassing failure of the Lebanese government to conform with the demands and needs of its people, who have been protesting in the streets since October 17th. 

The fact that the government lacks experts and professionals performing political duties is not the root of the problem. The real root of the problem is the stubborn insistence of the ruling class to remain in power and have a say in everything that goes on in Lebanon when the majority of the Lebanese people want them gone.

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With Hezbollah backing his position, the Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon and leader of the political Amal movement Nabih Berri asserts that the current caretaker Prime Minister is his only candidate for any future government. The alleged Techno-Political government being schemed is supposed to have PM Saad Al-Hariri heading it.

According to an analysis performed and published by the Kuwaiti Al-Anbaa newspaper, the alleged plan also excludes Gebran Bassil, president of the Free Patriotic Movement political party (FPM), from the new government.

That in exchange for him being in charge of appointing the ministers that would represent his FPM in that government.

On the other hand, as some sources and analyses have claimed after his resignation, Al-Hariri has made it clear that he is not willing to head a government that still consists of the traditional Lebanese parties and politicians. If so, Lebanon may be left with the current caretaker government for a while.

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