Government 'Liberates' Political Parties, Giving Geagea's LF Legal Status
The Lebanese government has set up a half-Christian, half-Muslim national commission of 12 members to write a new Lebanese electoral law under the chairmanship of prestigious elder statesman Fouad Butros, the Beirut media reported on Tuesday.
The Butros commission is made up of seasoned jurists and non-partisan legal experts. The government has drawn the mechanism of the commission's work and defined its mission as "proposing the best methods to reform the electoral systemÂ…to ensure true and fair representation."
The commission members are: Ghaleb Mahmasani, Michel Tabet, Abdul Salam Sheib, Ziad Baroud, Zohair Shokor, Nawaf Salam, Paul Salem, Fayez Hajj Shahine, Khaldoun Naja, Ghassan Abu Alwan and Mrs. Arwa Akmaji.
The cabinet also decided in a regular session under Premier Seniora at the Grand Serail to 'liberate' the formation of political parties, canceling requirement of advance approval by the Council of Ministers and returning to the 1908 Ottoman Code that had negated the prior approval provision, according to An Nahar.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces would automatically benefit from the new law, legally canceling a 1994 government resolution that outlawed the LF.
Saad Hariri's Tayyar Al Mustaqbal and Gen. Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement will also become political parties once they post a notice with the interior ministry. Ex-Premier Salim Hoss, however, was the first to post such a notice for his National Action Forum.
The cabinet session lasted 5 1/2 hours. It was the first to be held at the Grand Serail within the framework of an understanding between President Lahoud and Premier Seniora to rotate the sessions between the Baabda Palace and the Grand Serail, scrapping the mid-city headquarters for cabinet meetings.
The Butros commission is made up of seasoned jurists and non-partisan legal experts. The government has drawn the mechanism of the commission's work and defined its mission as "proposing the best methods to reform the electoral systemÂ…to ensure true and fair representation."
The commission members are: Ghaleb Mahmasani, Michel Tabet, Abdul Salam Sheib, Ziad Baroud, Zohair Shokor, Nawaf Salam, Paul Salem, Fayez Hajj Shahine, Khaldoun Naja, Ghassan Abu Alwan and Mrs. Arwa Akmaji.
The cabinet also decided in a regular session under Premier Seniora at the Grand Serail to 'liberate' the formation of political parties, canceling requirement of advance approval by the Council of Ministers and returning to the 1908 Ottoman Code that had negated the prior approval provision, according to An Nahar.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces would automatically benefit from the new law, legally canceling a 1994 government resolution that outlawed the LF.
Saad Hariri's Tayyar Al Mustaqbal and Gen. Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement will also become political parties once they post a notice with the interior ministry. Ex-Premier Salim Hoss, however, was the first to post such a notice for his National Action Forum.
The cabinet session lasted 5 1/2 hours. It was the first to be held at the Grand Serail within the framework of an understanding between President Lahoud and Premier Seniora to rotate the sessions between the Baabda Palace and the Grand Serail, scrapping the mid-city headquarters for cabinet meetings.
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