'Change MPs' force elections, not consensus, for parliamentary committees

The so-called ‘change MPs’, or the lawmakers who emerged from the October 17 uprising, on Tuesday imposed elections – rather than the traditional consensus – in choosing the members of the parliamentary committees.

The election of the members of the finance and justice committees took a lot of time, the National News Agency said, as Speaker Nabih Berri decried the absence of “consensus.”

“Without consensus, we cannot finish even if we take a week, and I hope there will be less of this. Committees are the real kitchen” of parliament, Berri added.

MP Waddah al-Sadek of the “change forces” meanwhile suggested the creation of two new committees – one for abolishing political sectarianism and another for modernizing parliament’s by-laws.

Elections were later held to choose the members of the finance and justice committees as the members of the foreign affairs; information and telecommunications; youth and sport; human rights; and women’s and children’s affairs won uncontested.

Below are the names of the elected members of the Finance & Budget and Administration & Justice Committees:

- Finance & Budget: Ibrahim Kanaan, Raji al-Saad, Ali Hassan Khalil, Ayyoub Hmayyed, Alain Aoun, Jihad al-Samad, Hassan Fadlallah, Michel Mouawad, Salim Aoun, Ghada Ayyoub, Jean Talouzian, Fouad Makhzoumi, Ghazi Zoaiter, Ali Fayyad, Ghassan Hasbani, Ihab Matar and Ibrahim Mneimneh

- Administration & Justice: George Adwan, Ibrahim Kanaan, Qabalan Qabalan, George Okais, Ashraf Baydoun, Ali Hassan Khalil, Marwan Hamadeh, Ghada Ayyoub, Hassan Ezzeddine, Ghazi Zoaiter, Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, George Atallah, Ali Khreis, Imad al-Hout, Osama Saad, Bilal Abdallah and Nadim Gemayel