Where interests meet: Lebanese leaders find common ground in joint committees and municipal elections

When the interests of Lebanese leaders intersect, they implicitly agree on one common goal. 

This is how we can summarize what happened in the joint committees on Wednesday and the preceding positions that were launched from here and there regarding the municipal elections.

The intersections became evident when Speaker Nabih Berri called for a meeting of the Council's Bureau on Thursday, coinciding with Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab indirectly "mourning" the upcoming electoral entitlement and the direct absence of Caretaker Interior and Justice Ministers, who are directly responsible for organizing the electoral process, from the meeting of the committees dedicated to discussing these elections.

The meeting of the Council's Bureau on Thursday at Ain el-Tineh includes a number of projects and proposals for laws that some MPs said do not exceed the fingers of one hand, all of which fall under the framework of necessity. 

Most of them are related to proposals for extending the mandates of municipal councils, including a proposed law submitted by MP Sajih Atttieh.

But the most important question is whether the conditions for convening a legislative session of necessity will be met, and whether the quorum will be ensured, i.e., a quorum of majority plus one?

It is certain that the two blocs, the Amal-Hezbollah blocs, which together comprise thirty MPs, will be at the forefront of the participants, alongside their seven independent allies and the Independent National Bloc, which includes four members: Tony Frangieh, Farid Haykal el Khazen, William Tawk, and Michel El Murr. 

Since MP Sajih Attieh is the one who submitted one of the proposals for extending the mandates of municipal councils, his bloc, which comprises six MPs, will be present during the session.