Date: Apr 23, 2020 Source: The Daily Star MPs reject draft laws, reforms as Lebanese protest for second day Nick Newsom| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lawmakers Wednesday rejected a raft of draft laws and reforms as hundreds of protesters gathered across the country to condemn the deteriorating living conditions Lebanon is suffering from. The legislative session was brought to an abrupt end after quorum was lost. Speaker Nabih Berri announced that there would be no afternoon session Wednesday, or any Thursday sessions as had been planned. Early on in the morning session MPs rejected a draft law to stop the controversial Bisri Dam project – a move that independent MP Paula Yacoubian described as “very unfortunate” on her Twitter account. The draft law will now be reviewed by parliamentary committees for further study. Lawmakers did the same for a draft law on lifting banking secrecy, and to a draft law on lifting ministerial immunity. The latter would allow Cabinet ministers to be tried more easily but MP Mohammad Hajjar suggested that political ambitions lay behind the law. “Some people want to politicize trials and even to judge martyr Rafik Hariri in his grave. We must have an independent judicial authority before talking about trials of ministers,” Hajjar said. “We put forward 10 draft laws. Five made their way into public life and five went to committees, particularly the draft law on lifting banking secrecy,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in televised comments after Wednesday’s session. “We had hoped it would be discussed alongside other draft laws on lifting banking secrecy because our law is more detailed and precise, but the response was that it would be discussed in committees.” A key demand of the nationwide protest movement that began Oct. 17 was early parliamentary elections. Lawmakers Wednesday vetoed a draft law that would shorten Parliament’s mandate, while also voting down a law removing posters of politicians from public. Protesters during the uprising widely removed or defaced posters of the country’s ruling elite. MP Sami Gemayel said that these votes demonstrated a lack of political will to bring about positive change. “It’s clear after today’s test that Parliament wants to continue the same performance that brought the country to where it is now, while it refuses to allow the people to hold it accountable through early parliamentary elections,” Gemayel said. Parliament, meanwhile, passed a law to transfer LL450 billion to the health sector. “This will help hospitals to perform their duties to a large extent, particularly given that numerous hospitals in the private sector have now begun accepting coronavirus patients,” Diab said after the session. Diab also said that the LL1.2 trillion in social assistance allocated to the Higher Relief Commission to distribute to needy families had been postponed. He did not indicate the reason for this, although last week Diab aggressively scaled back a cash-based aid initiative that would have benefited around 150,000 families. Instead, only around 40,000 families received financial assistance of LL400,000 after political meddling in the aid distribution lists undermined efforts to ensure the most needy families received the support they need. Diab said that the attacks on his government were “expected” but commented, “I hope that these political attacks don’t affect food or social security. There are a number of necessary draft laws for Lebanese communities, regardless of who is in government.” The session was held in UNESCO Palace in Beirut as coronavirus containment measures obliged lawmakers to meet in a more spacious venue than Parliament. The previous day’s sessions saw MPs endorse a draft law that legalizes cannabis cultivation in Lebanon for medical and industrial use, and shelve two controversial draft amnesty laws that would green-light the release of thousands of prisoners. Legislators began their Wednesday session as protesters for the second day running took to the streets in their cars to condemn the deteriorating living conditions and the dire economic situation. Some streets in Beirut and Sidon, in addition to other areas, were filled with parades of cars, with people waving the Lebanese flag from the roofs and chanting against the flailing economic situation in the country. Many demonstrators were wearing protective gear such as medical masks and gloves as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. Cars participating in the “march” had license plates ending with an odd number, in accordance with coronavirus containment measures that allow only odd numbered cars to drive on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Hundreds of companies have shut in recent months and coronavirus containment measures threaten to shutter thousands more as people are deprived of their livelihoods and unable to work. Meanwhile, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 50 percent of its value on the parallel exchange market as Lebanon experiences a biting shortage of dollar banknotes that resulted from dwindling capital inflows and decades of lending to the government.