The Supreme Defense Council, which convened this afternoon at Baabda Palace under the chairmanship of President Michel Aoun and in the presence of Prime Minister Najeb Mikati, requested all public administrations and agencies concerned with preparing for the elections to coordinate efforts to make the constitutional elections a success. The council decided to form an operations room in the Ministry of the Interior to keep pace with the election process, stressing the role of the election supervisory body and the importance of carrying out its tasks.
President Aoun stressed the importance of security and administrative coordination to accomplish the parliamentary elections without any problems, calling for the adoption of rules for the conduct of media coverage of the elections and cooperation with foreign observers and the election supervisory body.
As for PM Mikati, he stressed the importance of preserving the prestige of the state and the dignity of its institutions to ensure the protection of citizens. He said: We support human rights and freedom of opinion, but any unchecked transgression affects negatively, “we must be immune and protect our country from going into the abyss.”
The meeting was attended by Ministers of National Defense Maurice Salim, Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Abdullah Bou Habib, Finance Youssef Al-Khalil, Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi, Economy and Trade Amin Salam, Justice Henry Khoury, Energy Walid Fayaz and Education Abbas Al-Halabi.
The Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, the Director General of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman, the Director General of State Security, Major General Tony Saliba, the Director General of the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Antoine Choucair, the security and military advisor to the President of the Republic, Brigadier General Boulos Matar, the Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council, Major General Staff Muhammad Al-Mustafa, Acting Director General of Public Security, Brigadier General Elias Al-Bisari, Director of Intelligence, Brigadier General Antoine Kahwaji, Head of the Information Branch in the Internal Security Forces, Brigadier Khaled Hammoud, Assistant Director General of State Security, Brigadier General Hassan Shukair, Director of Information in the General Directorate of Public Security, Brigadier Youssef Al-Madwar.
The meeting was also attended by the head of the Supervisory Board for Elections, Judge Nadim Abdel-Malik, the Director General of Personal Status, Brigadier General Elias El-Khoury, the Director-General of Political Affairs and Refugees Faten Younes, and the governors of: Beirut Judge Marwan Abboud, Mount Lebanon Judge Muhammad al-Makawi, the North Judge Ramzi Nohra, the South Mansour Daou Judge Kamal Abu Joudeh, Nabatiyeh commissioned by Hussein Fakih, Baalbek Hermel, Bashir Khader, and Akkar Imad Labaki.
Statement
At the end of the meeting, Major General Al-Mustafa read the following statement:
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, presided over a session of the Supreme Defense Council, in the presence of the Prime Minister, a number of ministers, leaders of the security services and their assistants, governors, the head of the Election Supervision Commission, the Director General of Personal Status and the General Director of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Interior.
At the beginning of the session, the President of the Republic spoke, pointing out that the meeting is devoted to discussing the arrangements for the parliamentary elections scheduled for next May 15, to begin in the countries of expansion on May 6 and 8. President Aoun added: Ensuring the success of the parliamentary elections is in an important aspect through coordination between the various military, security and administrative agencies. In this context, it is necessary to emphasize the necessity of holding successive meetings between the concerned agencies and forces to ensure the success of the procedures that will be implemented before, during and after the elections.
President Aoun pointed out that there are foreign institutions that will monitor the elections, as happened in previous sessions, and their task must be facilitated, stressing the role of the election supervising body to carry out its duties fully in accordance with the tasks set for it in the election law to secure fair, free and transparent elections. President Aoun called for setting rules for the conduct of media coverage of the elections in accordance with the specified rules
Then Prime Minister Mikati spoke, focusing on the importance of the electoral process, but he pointed out that there is a basic rule that must be preserved, which is the prestige of the state and the dignity of its institutions, especially the military and security institutions, to ensure the protection of the citizen and face the expected elections, while the country is stable and secure.
PM Mikati added: The political differences in the country cannot be ignored, and each party enjoys freedom of opinion, but it must be noted that the freedom of each individual stands at the freedom of others. From here, any action that could harm stability, such as attacking the security forces, will not be in the interest of Lebanon and its people.
Minister of Interior presented the procedures and measures taken to accompany the parliamentary elections in terms of security, logistics and administration, followed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in presenting the arrangements for the scattered Lebanese voting. Then the head of the Election Supervision Commission presented the commission’s work and the difficulties it faces in terms of logistics and finance. Then the leaders of the security services continued to speak about the readiness of the military and security forces and the coordination among them in the procedures to keep pace with the elections. After that, the governors presented the situation in their governorates and the general directors in the Ministry of Interior for the approved measures.
The meeting concluded :
Meetings between the security services are held to take appropriate decisions in the context of preparing for, accompanying and following the elections.
– Forming an operations room in the Ministry of Interior to keep pace with the electoral process in all respects.
– Emphasis on the role of the elections supervising body to carry out its tasks specified in the election law.
– Continuing citizen awareness campaigns to facilitate the voting process.
Source: National News Agency