LEBANON: PARLIAMENT LOWERS VOTING AGE FOR 2010 AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000337 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/FO AND NEA/ELA ALSO FOR IO ACTING A/S WARLICK P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY USUN FOR WOLFF/SCHEDLBAUER/GERMAIN NSC FOR MCDERMOTT, SHAPIRO DOD FOR FLOURNOY/KAHL/DALTON DRL/NESA FOR WHITMAN, BARGHOUT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PTER PINR PHUM KDEM KPAL LE SUBJECT: LEBANON: PARLIAMENT LOWERS VOTING AGE FOR 2010 AND BEYOND SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) In a busy March 19 session, parliament approved a draft law to amend the constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18; however, it will not be effective in time for the June 7 parliamentary elections. Parliament also deferred a draft law requiring unanimity to amend constitutional language regarding Palestinian resettlement ("tawteen"),and a draft law to amend the Constitution to allow the impeachment of ministers. It did not discuss a draft law submitted by Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra to grant amnesty to individuals for all crimes committed before April 27, 2005, or Michel Aoun's election season proposal to abolish the gas tax. When a quorum was lost, Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session until March 26. End summary. PARLIAMENT LOWERS VOTING AGE TO 18 -------------- ¶2. (SBU) At the March 19 parliament session, the 98 MPs present unanimously approved a draft law to amend the constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. However, the law must still receive further cabinet and parliamentary approval before going into effect. It therefore will not impact the June 7 parliamentary elections, although it will be in place for the 2010 municipal elections. ¶3. (SBU) Members of parliament presented 37 draft laws during the session, most designed to curry favor with constituents now that the campaign season is in full swing. According to Druze MP Akram Shuhayyeb (PSP),approving these draft laws would have "broken the state" financially and administratively. However, after parliament passed the voting age change, a quorum was lost and Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned parliament until March 26. PARLIAMENT DEFERS DEBATE ON TAWTEEN... -------------- ¶4. (U) Christian March 14 MP Boutros Harb submitted a proposal requiring parliamentary unanimity to amend language in the preamble of the Constitution that bans Palestinian resettlement, or "tawteen". By making it harder to change the ban on "tawteen", March 14 hoped to put an end to the opposition's accusations that March 14 has a long-term goal of permanent resettlement of Palestinians in Lebanon. Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, in his campaign rhetoric with Christian followers, continues to imply that March 14 secretly supports "tawteen" to alter Lebanon's demographics at the Christians' expense. Opposition figures said that Harb's proposal was a means of disguising March 14's true intent. ¶5. (U) The opposition, including Shia figures Speaker Berri and Hizballah MP Mohammad Raad, presented primarily legal arguments against changing the preamble, with Raad arguing that any issue in the preamble of the Constitution was a "principle that should not be touched." After a lengthy debate, Berri deferred the issue. ...AND IMPEACHMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTERS -------------- ¶6. (U) Parliament also deferred a draft law to amend Article 70 of the Constitution on impeaching ministers. The draft law would change the current two-thirds plurality needed to impeach the prime minister to a half-plus-one majority. March 14 figures argued that this draft law was targeting the Sunni-held premiership. To prevent confessional disputes, Speaker Berri withdrew the draft law. LF SUBMITS AMNESTY DRAFT LAW -------------- ¶7. (U) Meanwhile, parliament did not discuss a draft law submitted BEIRUT 00000337 002 OF 002 by Lebanese Forces (LF) MP Antoine Zahra to grant amnesty to individuals for crimes committed before April 27, 2005, with the exception of crimes referred to the judicial council and the international criminal court. Zahra had presented this draft law with the argument of turning the page of war and Syrian tutelage era that ended with their withdrawal on April 26, 2005. However, Hizballah-run television outlet Al-Manar accused Zahra of politicizing the issue, reporting that the beneficiaries of the new law would be Antoine Lahd, who headed the Southern Lebanese Army, and Ghassan Touma, the LF's second in command during the civil war. Local press also suggested that the LF proposed the law to garner Christian support ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections. ¶8. (SBU) Comment. Major bloc leaders such as Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt, and Michel Aoun were notably absent from the session, while independent Greek Orthodox MP Michel Murr, who recently announced his alliance in Metn with March 14 candidates, left no doubt about his new allegiance by squeezing himself into a seat in the section of the chamber reserved for MPs from Hariri's Future bloc. End comment. SISON