BEIRUT: The majority of ministers have expressed to Prime Minister Tammam Salam their support for changing the controversial decision-making mechanism adopted by the government when the presidential seat became vacant, ministerial sources close to the premier said.
Speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity Tuesday, the sources said that Salam’s efforts to secure consensus over changing the mechanism have achieved progress.
Most Cabinet ministers have voiced their support for the change, and ministers loyal to former President Michel Sleiman are expected to inform Salam about their position on the issue during Thursday’s Cabinet session, the sources said.
They added that reports that Kataeb Party ministers opposed any modification to the mechanism were no longer accurate.
In line with the Constitution, the powers of the president were transferred to the government when the presidential vacuum began last May.
Cabinet parties agreed that starting that date, all government decisions should win unanimous backing from the 24 ministers. Cabinet decrees should also be signed by all of the ministers.
But this mechanism violates the Constitution which does not stipulate that the Cabinet’s decision-making process changes after it starts exercising the powers of the president.
Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed his reservations over the Cabinet’s new mechanism.
According to the Constitution, the government convenes with a two-thirds quorum and its decisions are made by consensus. In case consensus was hard to achieve, then regular draft laws are passed with a simple majority vote and crucial decisions need to be approved by two-third of the government’s members.
Listed in Article 65 of the Constitution, crucial decisions include amending the Constitution, the decision of war and peace and declaring a state of emergency among others.
The new mechanism, which allows every single minister to veto any decision, has significantly reduced the productivity of Salam’s government, which has been unable to make unanimous decisions on crucial issues over the past few months due to internal disagreements.
This situation prompted Salam to regularly complain over the matter and start contacting all Cabinet groups in order to win their backing for changing the mechanism.
The latest example of the disruption to the government’s work caused by the mechanism appeared in Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas’ remarks Tuesday, in which he said that he would no longer sign any Cabinet decree unless the government appoints a board of directors for Tripoli’s economic zone.
“Since the state cannot salvage Tripoli, then Tripoli will paralyze the state,” Derbas, who hails from Tripoli, was quoted as saying.
The government of Fouad Siniora adopted the mechanism of unanimous voting during the six-month presidential vacuum which plagued Lebanon when Emile Lahoud’s term expired in November 2007.
But during that period, the government did not face major problems in making unanimous decisions, as it comprised March 14 ministers only, after ministers loyal to Hezbollah, Amal and Lahoud resigned in November 2006.
But Salam’s government has brought together rival March 8 and March 14 factions and in some cases, disagreements emerge between ministers within the same group.
Observers wonder whether Salam will be able to convince all Cabinet ministers to back a change in the government’s decision-making mechanism or whether he will continue to suffer from it until his government resigns once a new president is elected, an event which is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Ministers, MPs and politicians from various factions agree that signs on the local and external levels did not indicate that the presidential vacuum will end anytime soon.
Separately, the government should issue a decree to open a special round for Parliament so that the legislature can endorse a number of crucial draft laws, including one on food safety, the draft 2015 budget, a new salary scale among others.
But the issue could prove to be controversial, particularly that some Cabinet parties argue that Parliament should not legislate before the election of a president.
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