BEIRUT: The ministerial committee tasked with the implementation of a new electoral law will reconvene Friday in an attempt to bridge differences between members over implementing biometric ID cards. The issue of biometric cards was raised in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, where ministers were informed of the lack of progress during the electoral committee meeting held Wednesday, Information Minister Melhem Riachi told reporters after the Cabinet session. “Deliberations regarding the card are not done yet and the committee will meet again tomorrow [Friday],” Riachi added.

Differences on how to approach the implementation of biometric cards have created a split between the committee members, particularly between Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. In addition to the division over the cards, parties remain split over voters’ preregistration in their place of residence rather than their place of birth.

“Disagreement is still present and the committee will meet to look into preregistration of voters and the biometric cards,” Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Qanso, a member of the committee, said after the Cabinet session ended.

The committee has held several meetings since it was formed shortly after Parliament ratified a new vote law in June based on proportional representation, which divided Lebanon into 15 electoral districts. The law replaced the controversial 1960 majoritarian system used in the last elections in 2009.

Parliamentary elections are set to take place in May 2018.

Despite the differences, politicians have assured the public that elections would be held on time.

“Elections are a national issue that deserve a little bit of patience,” Machnouk said before heading to Cabinet.

“Elections can’t be held without preregistration of voters,” Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said.

Minister for the Displaced Talal Arslan, who is also a committee member, said this week that procrastination during the committee was deliberate.

The developments came as Parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee met to discuss the draft law referred from Cabinet over the funding of biometric card that are expected to cost some $134 million, according to the committee’s head MP Ibrahim Kanaan. Kanaan said that the government had requested the opening of an exceptional allocation to finance the biometric cards, but said that the committee members didn’t express excitement over the proposal. “There was a direction and demand to vote to return the law back [to Cabinet], but a quorum was lost in the last 15 minutes and if voting took place today it would have collapsed based on the discussions,” Kanaan said.

The Cabinet, under Prime Minister Saad Hariri, met at the Grand Serail to discuss a 45-item agenda. This included Hariri’s plan to travel to Cyprus to meet with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades Saturday. The pair will discuss bilateral ties as well as oil and telecoms issues.

Ministers agreed on tender documents of waste-related projects, including a waste-to-energy project. Minister of State for Planning Affairs Michel Pharaon said that officials should move carefully and slowly when approaching certain issues regarding waste projects.

Later in the day, Hariri hailed the decision in a tweet on his official Twitter account. “Here we are taking the first step toward resolving the chronic waste crisis by endorsing the book of terms [for contracts],” he said.

The Cabinet also requested the Council for Development and Reconstruction conclude a study related to expanding the Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud landfills to be returned within a 15-day period. “No one should dream of expanding the Costa Brava without giving incentives to the Choueifat Municipality,” Arslan said in a tweet after the session.

The Cabinet also approved a decree to provide all telecoms data to security forces for the next four months, Riachi added. Local reports said that the Free Patriotic Movement had a reservation regarding this issue.

Ministers also discussed assigning a board of directors for the Tripoli Governmental Hospital, but it postponed the assigning of a board of directors for the Karantina Governmental Hospital until next week.

Although the agenda didn’t include the long-standing need to appoint a new head and board of directors at the state-run Tele Liban television station, the ministers did touch on this issue at the beginning of the session.

When asked about the station, Riachi told reporters: “The case is on its way to being solved.”

President Michel Aoun is expected to deliver a speech Friday during a ceremony held at the Justice Palace to open the 2017-18 judicial year, according to a statement from the president’s office.

The statement added that Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri, in addition to officials and ambassadors, will be present at the event that will take place for the first time in seven years.