Fneish: No Agreement on Administrative Appointments Mechanism

 
Local Editor, 18-01-2010
One day ahead of the scheduled weekly cabinet session, Lebanese ministers seem ready to face one of their first challenges related to the issue of the administrative appointments, after many postponements.

Indeed, the cabinet would on Tuesday decide whether to adopt the mechanism for administrative appointments or reject it. In this context, State Minister for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish told Al-Manar that President Michel Suleiman would raise the topic during the cabinet session in order to reach a decision over the mechanism's principle.

While stating that he wasn't officially tasked yet with putting the mechanism for administrative appointments, Fneish said that a ministerial agreement on the principle would be automatically followed by giving the green light to prepare a draft in this regard. "Eventually, the cabinet has the final say" on the issue, Fneish added.

Meanwhile, well-informed sources told Al-Manar that Minister Fneish will hold a meeting with Minister Gebran Bassil over the issue as Hizbullah and AMAL ministers are expected to discuss the latest developments on the eve of the session.

Another topic that would be essential during Tuesday's cabinet session is a draft law on the amendment of municipal elections proposed by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud. The draft is expected to draw a political debate over a number of points, particularly those related to whether the voting age should be lowered to 18 or remain at 21.

As-Safir daily on Monday said Speaker Nabih Berri was surprised by the absence of any mention of lowering the voting age to 18, contrary to what Baroud had wished. It said Cabinet ministers belonging to Berri's Development and Liberation bloc will raise this issue during Tuesday's meeting.

Yet, Baroud justified the lack of mention of lowering the voting age to 18 in the new draft law, saying he had originally prepared a draft law on the amendment of municipal election during the previous government. Baroud told Lebanese daily An-Nahar that once Article 21 of the Constitution has been amended, the voting age will be set at 18 "and I am looking forward to that."