Period for Finalizing the Ministerial Statement in Lebanon-From one day to one month
The current government finalized its policy statement on Friday, March 14th, 2014, 28 days after the formation of the Cabinet. But how long did it take previous governments to concoct their policy statements?
Period for Devising Ministerial Statement
While the Constitution has no explicit articles that bind the prime minister designate to declare the formation of the Cabinet within a specific period of time, Article 64 stipulates in its second paragraph that “the Prime Minister shall conduct the Parliamentary consultations involved in forming a Cabinet. He shall sign, with the President, the Decree forming the Cabinet. The Cabinet must present its general statement of policy to Parliament and gain its confidence within thirty days of the day of issuance of the Decree. The Cabinet shall not exercise its powers before it gains Parliament’s confidence nor after it has resigned or is considered as having resigned, except in the narrow sense of managing affairs.”
This binding period was introduced into the Constitution following the 1990 Taif Accord. Subsequently, the current Cabinet whose Decree of formation was issued on February 15 should complete its statement of policy and submit it to Parliament prior to March 16, 2014. What awaits the government should this period be violated?
The Constitution does not provide express answers to this question and jurists hold two dissenting opinions about it: one camp believes that the government would be considered as having resigned and that the President of the Republic should initiate new parliamentary consultations to decide on a new- or the same- designate to form a Cabinet; the other opines that, in case of agreement, this period may be overstepped and ministerial statement discussions may continue, but the Cabinet, which remains in power, may not convene.
Previous Governments
Since 1960, 42 governments have succeeded to power in Lebanon. For various reasons and considerations, some of these governments (3 governments in addition to the Aoun government formed by the end of Amine Gemayel’s presidential term) failed to present a statement of policy while others completed theirs at record speed within 1 to 5 days. Yet, several governments, especially those that came to power in times of crises, took up the entire period to which the law entitles them (1 month) to finish their statement as illustrated in the following Table 1.
At face value, the ministerial statement is the mainstay of the government work as it outlines its policy in diverse fields- development, political, economic and administrative- and calls it to account accordingly. However, in Lebanon, governments are rarely held responsible for the extent of the commitment they exhibit toward their ministerial statements and these statements remain ink on paper, even as far as major and critical subjects are concerned.
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Ministerial statement preparation periods by government (1960-2014) |
Table 1 |
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Date of the Cabinet Formation Decree |
Prime Minister |
Time between the formation of the Cabinet and the delivery of the ministerial statement in Parliament |
Confidence in government |
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August 1, 1960 |
Saeb Salam |
18 days |
78 ayes, 7 nays and 1 abstention |
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May 20, 1961 |
Saeb Salam |
10 days |
46 ayes, 44 nays and 1 abstention |
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October 31, 1961 |
Rashid Karami |
17 days |
63 ayes, 18 nays and 1 abstention |
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February 20, 1964 (last government under President Fouad Chehab) |
Hussein Al-Oueini |
The Cabinet did not appear before Parliament until May 21 following parliamentary elections |
75 ayes, 7 nays |
|
September 25, 1964 (first government under President Charles Helou) |
Hussein Al-Oueini |
5 days |
54 ayes, 33 nays and 1 abstention |
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November 18, 1964 |
Hussein Al-Oueini |
15 days |
85 ayes, 5 nays and 7 abstentions |
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July 25, 1965 |
Rashid Karami |
19 days |
61 ayes, 33 nays and 1 abstention |
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April 9, 1966 |
Abdullah al-Yafi |
19 days |
55 ayes, 20 nays and 13 abstentions |
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December 6, 1966 |
Rashid Karami |
15 days |
51 ayes, 16 nays and 23 abstentions |
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February 8, 1968 |
Abdullah al-Yafi |
8 days |
85 ayes and 4 nays |
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October 12, 1968 |
Abdullah al-Yafi |
The government resigned after only one week of formation and did not appear before Parliament |
- |
|
October 20, 1968 |
Abdullah al-Yafi |
12 days |
65 ayes, 2 nays and 2 abstentions |
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January 15, 1969 (this government resigned on April 25, 1969) |
Rashid Karami |
16 days |
60 ayes, and 30 nays |
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November 25, 1969 |
Rashid Karami |
20 days |
58 ayes, 30 nays and 3 abstentions |
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October 13, 1970 (first government under President Suleiman Frangieh) |
Saeb Salam |
5 days |
76 ayes, 1 nay and 4 abstentions |
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May 27, 1972 |
Saeb Salam |
12 days |
77 ayes, 15 nays and 1 abstention |
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April 25, 1973 |
Amin el-Hafez |
It did not appear before Parliament |
- |
|
July 8, 1973 |
Takieddine Solh |
18 days |
78 ayes, 1 nay and 2 abstentions |
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October 31, 1974 |
Rashid Karami |
22 days |
67 ayes and 14 nays |
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May 23, 1975 |
Noureddine Rifai |
This was a military government that did not appear before Parliament |
- |
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July 1, 1975 |
Rashid Karami |
15 days |
Unanimous vote of confidence (80 ayes) |
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December 9, 1976 (first government under President Elias Sarkis) |
Salim el-Hoss |
15 days |
Unanimous vote of confidence (72 ayes) |
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July 16, 1979 |
Salim el-Hoss |
24 days |
54 ayes and 9 nays |
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October 25, 1980 |
Chafik al-Wazzan |
23 days |
41 ayes, 6 nays and 11 abstentions |
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October 7, 1982 (first government under President Amine Gemayel) |
Chafik al-Wazzan |
26 days |
58 nays and 1 abstention |
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April 30, 1984 |
Rashid Karami |
31 days (a national unity government formed to put an end to the Civil War) |
53 ayes, 15 nays and 3 abstentions |
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November 25, 1989 (first government under President Elias el-Hrawi) |
Salim el-Hoss |
1 day |
Unanimous vote of confidence |
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December 24, 1990 |
Omar Karami |
17 days |
37 ayes and 3 nays |
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May 16, 1992 |
Rashid Solh |
14 days |
76 ayes, 5 nays and 3 abstentions |
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October 31, 1992 |
Rafic Hariri |
12 days |
104 ayes, 12 nays and 3 abstentions |
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May 25, 1995 |
Rafic Hariri |
12 days |
76 ayes, 18 nays and 5 abstentions |
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November 7, 1996 |
Rafic Hariri |
13 days |
102 ayes and 19 nays |
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December 4, 1998 (first government under President Emile Lahoud) |
Salim el-Hoss |
11 days |
85 ayes and 31 abstentions |
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October 26, 2000 |
Rafic Hariri |
8 days |
95 ayes, 6 nays and 17 abstentions |
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April 17, 2003 |
Rafic Hariri |
8 days |
85 ayes, 13 nays and 13 abstentions |
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October 26, 2004 |
Omar Karami |
10 days |
59 ayes, 23 nays and 25 abstentions |
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April 16, 2005 |
Najib Mikati |
8 days |
109 ayes, 1 nay and 2 abstentions |
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July 19, 2005 |
Fouad Seniora |
10 days |
92 ayes, 14 nays and 2 abstentions |
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July 11, 2008 (first government under President Michel Suleiman) |
Fouad Seniora |
29 days |
100 ayes, 5 nays and 2 abstentions |
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November 9, 2009 |
Saad Hariri |
30 days |
122 ayes, 1 nay and 1 abstention |
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June 13, 2011 |
Najib Mikati |
23 days |
86 ayes and 2 abstentions |
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February 15, 2014 |
Tamam Salam |
28 days |
96 ayes, 4 nay and 1 abstention |
Source: Decrees of Cabinet formation as reported in the Official Gazette and dates of ministerial statement delivery as reported in the Parliament’s minutes of meeting.
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