The Lebanese Parliament. (Credit: L’Orient-Le Jour's archives)
Hassan-Tabet Rifaat is a professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Saint Joseph University (USJ), a lawyer, former director general at the Justice Ministry and former president of the Central Inspection.On March 9, members of Parliament voted by a majority to extend their term by two years. Seventy-six voted in favor, 41 against and four abstained.Although it is not yet a law published in the Official Gazette — a prerequisite for any potential referral to the Constitutional Council — the legality of this extension raises questions that go beyond whether the voting procedure itself was properly conducted.Some analysts might be tempted to first invoke the issue of sectarian consociationalism (الميثاقية) [the national pact].Indeed, the three main Christian parties — the Lebanese Forces (LF), the Free Patriotic...
Hassan-Tabet Rifaat is a professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Saint Joseph University (USJ), a lawyer, former director general at the Justice Ministry and former president of the Central Inspection.On March 9, members of Parliament voted by a majority to extend their term by two years. Seventy-six voted in favor, 41 against and four abstained.Although it is not yet a law published in the Official Gazette — a prerequisite for any potential referral to the Constitutional Council — the legality of this extension raises questions that go beyond whether the voting procedure itself was properly conducted.Some analysts might be tempted to first invoke the issue of sectarian consociationalism (الميثاقية) [the national pact].Indeed, the three main Christian parties — the Lebanese Forces (LF), the Free...
