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Paula Ostieh writes in Asharq Al-Awsat:
Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib is pushing for alternate ministerial portfolios, in contrast to practices prevailing in years past that caused sects and parties to cling to certain ministries, ultimately viewing them more as vested rights.
Despite what is said about a solution to the acceptance by the political forces of the principle of rotation between portfolios this time in line with the French initiative, the information indicates that the “Shiite duo” represented by “Hezbollah” and the “Amal” movement joined the Ministry of Finance, within the framework of its adherence to what has been called the Shiite signature. The decrees are usually signed by the Christian president, the Sunni prime minister and the third competent minister, who usually be the finance minister.
Former minister and legal expert Ziad Baroud points out that there are two types of decrees: Decrees issued by the Council of Ministers after deliberations followed by consensus or a vote of half plus one, or two-thirds, on specific issues. As for the second type, ordinary decrees that do not require a cabinet decision, but rather the signature of the presidents of the republic and the government, in addition to the signature of the competent minister. If there is a financial component, the Minister of Finance will sign as the competent minister.
Baroud added to “Asharq Al-Awsat”: “Nothing in the constitution canonizes a specific ministry for a particular sect, sect or party. Everything that is stipulated in parity between Christians and Muslims, except that the custom is to distribute the portfolios of according to the sectarian proportions adopted in the House of Representatives. “
Baroud explains that “even after the constitutional amendments that were made in 1990, no specific portfolios were assigned to specific sects. Finances, for example, moved between Sunnis, Maronites, Orthodox and Shiites. Regarding the accession of a component sectarian specific to him today, it takes place within the framework of a kind of political understanding that is not linked at all to the constitution. “
Just as the Shiites cling to the Ministry of Finance for years, the Maronites cling to the Foreign Ministry and the Sunnis clinging to the interior. The insistence on certain ministries is not limited to sects, since the Free Patriotic Movement insists on forming any government to obtain the Ministry of Energy; Justifying this by saying that he prepared a project to ensure electricity, pointing out that despite all the promises, the electricity supply is still in its worst condition. The “movement” blames their opponents, accusing them of working to thwart their projects. The Future Movement also clings to the Ministry of Communications, and the presidents insist on obtaining the Ministry of Defense.
The investigator of the “International Information Company”, Muhammad Shams al-Din, points out that there were no ministries that monopolized any sect before the Taif Agreement, and that there was a normal and normal rotation. However, after “Taif”, the view was spread that the Ministry of Finance became part of the Shiite involvement without constitutional dedication, and noted in a statement to “Asharq Al-Awsat” that “the prime minister Finance after Taif was Shiite, as in the second and third governments. ” After that, the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri took over the finances, and this matter was approved by President Rashid Karami, as he often combined the prime minister with the Ministry of Finance.
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