BEIRUT: Parliament endorsed Lebanon’s first state budget in more than a decade Thursday, even as tempers flared and Future Movement ministers stormed out of the evening session.

Despite violating the Constitution by not including an audit document of past extrabudgetary spending, 61 MPs voted for the proposed state budget, four voted against and eight abstained. Only 73 lawmakers were present in Parliament during the vote out of 125 current MPs, with three seats vacant, as officials have failed to hold constitutionally required by-elections.

The long-awaited 2017 state budget was passed after three days of morning and evening legislative sessions headed by Speaker Nabih Berri.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri said at the end of the session that the government would start preparing for the 2018 budget as of next week.

Almost an hour into Parliament’s evening session on the budget, Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Mouin Merehbi, from the Future bloc, stormed out. He objected to lawmakers endorsing an item related to the governorates of Baalbeck-Hermel and Akkar that did not include a $30 million allotment for government projects.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and Minister of State for Women’s Affairs Jean Ogasapian, both members of Merehbi’s parliamentary bloc, followed suit. Merehbi returned a little less than an hour later, after reportedly shouting that he didn’t want the role of minister or MP as he left the chamber.

After the morning session, the Finance and Budget parliamentary committee head MP Ibrahim Kanaan told reporters that MPs endorsed LL10 billion ($6.6 million) for the Lebanese Red Cross, given the role it played during the Army’s recent operations to clear the northeastern border region of militants.

Kanaan also said that LL354 billion was saved after LL151 billion was cut from the Telecoms Ministry’s allocations. The sum of LL200 billion was cut from various government bodies, along with LL4 billion allocated to the national lottery.However, increases were also included. The ESCWA building’s rental cost increased by $1 million and LL210 billion in loans for investments were allocated, along with another LL30 billion for public schools.

The amount of LL99 billion was put toward the Social Affairs Ministry and LL3 billion to the Tourism Ministry. Parliament also approved an additional allocation of LL500 billion ($331 million) for the salary scale, estimated to need around LL1.2 billion ($800 million) per year.

MPs held the morning session on the third and final day to ratify the state budget for the year. The session started at 11 a.m. and was adjourned around 4 p.m., before picking up again from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Before adjourning the morning session, lawmakers touched on controversial allocations for the Telecoms Ministry. MP Sami Gemayel criticized the ministry’s choice to award a company the right to install fiber optic cable according to a ministerial decision, without going through a bidding process.

Berri responded by saying: “Any amount that exceeds LL100 million needs a tender, and the Telecoms Minister awarded the company [this project] without referring the case to the dedicated authorities.”

He called on lawmakers to present a request to question Telecoms Minister Jamal Jarrah on this issue.

“I personally prefer for all tenders to be routed through the Tenders Department,” Berri said, “so that the door for rumors and accusations isn’t left open.” He advised MPs to present a law that would ensure all tenders are awarded via the Tenders Department.

Gemayel is expected to appeal the budget law once it is published in the Official Gazette. To do so, he must obtain 10 MPs’ signatures as required for an appeal to be accepted by the Constitutional Council.

Speaking from Parliament, Machnouk said the elections scheduled for spring 2018 will be held on time “and any talk saying otherwise is inaccurate.” However, he said that the two items still under discussion were the biometric ID cards to be used for voting and the logistics of allowing voters to cast ballots in their place of residence instead of their ancestral villages.

Separately, after sitting through the three days of the general assembly, Cabinet will meet Friday at Baabda Palace to discuss 60 items on the agenda plus an addendum dealing with presidential and administrative appointments at seven public hospitals.

Cabinet will also look at a five-year economic plan for the nation as well as the electricity file hampering the state’s finances and potential waste-to-energy solutions.

Officials will further discuss allocated funds for next year’s scheduled parliamentary elections, while the controversial Tele Liban file is not on the agenda. The position of head of the state-run television station remains vacant despite Information Minister Melhem Riachi having put forward a proposal to fill the position to Cabinet’s Secretariat.

The Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces have been at odds over the appointment, leaving employees and the future of the institution up in the air.

Tele Liban, launched in 1959, is the nation’s oldest TV station. It merged with the privately owned stations CLT and Tele Orient in 1976.

Although tensions have eased in Cabinet recently, a number of pending issues, such as the government’s policy toward coordination with the Syrian regime, have the potential to threaten the ongoing political consensus among officials. – Additional reporting by Ghinwa Obeid