VZCZCXRO7353
RR RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHLB #0337/01 0821621
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231621Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4506
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3602
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3805
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000337 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO AND NEA/ELA 
ALSO FOR IO ACTING A/S WARLICK 
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY 
USUN FOR WOLFF/SCHEDLBAUER/GERMAIN 
NSC FOR MCDERMOTT, SHAPIRO 
DOD FOR FLOURNOY/KAHL/DALTON 
DRL/NESA FOR WHITMAN, BARGHOUT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PINR PHUM KDEM KPAL LE
SUBJECT:  LEBANON:  PARLIAMENT LOWERS VOTING AGE FOR 2010 AND 
BEYOND 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) In a busy March 19 session, parliament approved a draft law 
to amend the constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18; 
however, it will not be effective in time for the June 7 
parliamentary elections.  Parliament also deferred a draft law 
requiring unanimity to amend constitutional language regarding 
Palestinian resettlement ("tawteen"), and a draft law to amend the 
Constitution to allow the impeachment of ministers.  It did not 
discuss a draft law submitted by Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra to 
grant amnesty to individuals for all crimes committed before April 
27, 2005, or Michel Aoun's election season proposal to abolish the 
gas tax.  When a quorum was lost, Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the 
session until March 26.  End summary. 
 
PARLIAMENT LOWERS 
VOTING AGE TO 18 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) At the March 19 parliament session, the 98 MPs present 
unanimously approved a draft law to amend the constitution to lower 
the voting age from 21 to 18.  However, the law must still receive 
further cabinet and parliamentary approval before going into effect. 
 It therefore will not impact the June 7 parliamentary elections, 
although it will be in place for the 2010 municipal elections. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Members of parliament presented 37 draft laws during the 
session, most designed to curry favor with constituents now that the 
campaign season is in full swing.   According to Druze MP Akram 
Shuhayyeb (PSP), approving these draft laws would have "broken the 
state" financially and administratively.  However, after parliament 
passed the voting age change, a quorum was lost and Speaker Nabih 
Berri adjourned parliament until March 26. 
 
PARLIAMENT DEFERS 
DEBATE ON TAWTEEN... 
----------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Christian March 14 MP Boutros Harb submitted a proposal 
requiring parliamentary unanimity to amend language in the preamble 
of the Constitution that bans Palestinian resettlement, or 
"tawteen".  By making it harder to change the ban on "tawteen", 
March 14 hoped to put an end to the opposition's accusations that 
March 14 has a long-term goal of permanent resettlement of 
Palestinians in Lebanon.  Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, 
in his campaign rhetoric with Christian followers, continues to 
imply that March 14 secretly supports "tawteen" to alter Lebanon's 
demographics at the Christians' expense.  Opposition figures said 
that Harb's proposal was a means of disguising March 14's true 
intent. 
 
¶5.  (U) The opposition, including Shia figures Speaker Berri and 
Hizballah MP Mohammad Raad, presented primarily legal arguments 
against changing the preamble, with Raad arguing that any issue in 
the preamble of the Constitution was a "principle that should not be 
touched."  After a lengthy debate, Berri deferred the issue. 
 
...AND IMPEACHMENT 
OF PRIME MINISTER 
AND MINISTERS 
----------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Parliament also deferred a draft law to amend Article 70 of 
the Constitution on impeaching ministers.  The draft law would 
change the current two-thirds plurality needed to impeach the prime 
minister to a half-plus-one majority.  March 14 figures argued that 
this draft law was targeting the Sunni-held premiership.  To prevent 
confessional disputes, Speaker Berri withdrew the draft law. 
 
LF SUBMITS AMNESTY 
DRAFT LAW 
------------------ 
 
¶7.  (U) Meanwhile, parliament did not discuss a draft law submitted 
 
BEIRUT 00000337  002 OF 002 
 
 
by Lebanese Forces (LF) MP Antoine Zahra to grant amnesty to 
individuals for crimes committed before April 27, 2005, with the 
exception of crimes referred to the judicial council and the 
international criminal court.  Zahra had presented this draft law 
with the argument of turning the page of war and Syrian tutelage era 
that ended with their withdrawal on April 26, 2005.  However, 
Hizballah-run television outlet Al-Manar accused Zahra of 
politicizing the issue, reporting that the beneficiaries of the new 
law would be Antoine Lahd, who headed the Southern Lebanese Army, 
and Ghassan Touma, the LF's second in command during the civil war. 
Local press also suggested that the LF proposed the law to garner 
Christian support ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment.  Major bloc leaders such as Saad Hariri, Walid 
Jumblatt, and Michel Aoun were notably absent from the session, 
while independent Greek Orthodox MP Michel Murr, who recently 
announced his alliance in Metn with March 14 candidates, left no 
doubt about his new allegiance by squeezing himself into a seat in 
the section of the chamber reserved for MPs from Hariri's Future 
bloc.  End comment. 
 
SISON