Written By Rihab Abu Hosn

Translated by Rabab Housseiny

Four months have passed and the new government is still not formed as yet. Between talks about a nearing date to announce the formation of the cabinet and the traded accusations between rivals of hindering the process, a problematic touching on the Najib Mikati-led caretaker government's powers and expiry date emerges. One may in fact wonder about the legal and constitutional deadline for the Prime Minister designate. What are the limits of caretaking powers and what are the tasks a caretaker government is entitled to assume?

The Constitution

According to the Lebanese Constitution and the political practice, the government is considered caretaker in two cases: when cabinet formation decrees are issued and confidence is still not voted, or when the government resigns or is considered resigned and the President of the Republic accepts the resignation after making sure it met the terms stated in article 69 of the Constitution, hereby enumerating the cases where the it should be considered as resigned. This is just the case in the country nowadays, after Premier Najib Mikati submitted the resignation of his government, which has now a caretaker capacity, until PM designate Tammam Salam forms his own.

Worth-mentioning, article 64 of the Lebanese Constitution states that the Prime Minister designate is bound to carry out consultations with lawmakers to form his cabinet and that the President of the Republic signs the formation decree.

Clause 2 of the same article notes that afterwards, the government must submit its state policy to the Parliament to obtain confidence within 30 days after the issuance of the formation decree. The government is not entitled to exercise its powers until it is granted confidence.

But the law falls short of mentioning the deadline of the parliamentary consultations.

Msaiki

Within this frame, former lawmaker Dr. Omar Msaiki maintains that the continuity of work within the state's utilities is necessary and that institutions cannot just be derailed, especially that they are entrusted with the interests of the people. Therefore, it is said that when the government resigns, it continues to take care of these tasks until a new one is formed.

"There is a principle in the public constitutional practice called the principle of public utilities' continuity, because people and state's affairs cannot be frozen until a new government is formed. The state needs work continuity indeed inside the administrative and public institutions," he explains.

He clarifies that the ordinary errands mentioned above are those not subjecting the members of a caretaker government to political upshot, because it no longer enjoys the Parliament confidence and is no longer capable of making political decisions.

As to the tenure of the caretaker government, the former MP indicates that the Constitution does not specify any deadline in that respect. But he says that the mandate of any government must stay within the reasonable time limits, not exceeding one month, even though the consecutive caretaker governments seldom abided by this norm.

"When a government resigns, the Prime Minister is not entitled to making any decision. This is why a new government is formed in the nearest time possible. Pending the vote of confidence, the Prime Minister can make decisions considering that the government does exist. The extraordinary juncture in the region requires the Lebanese to form a new government as soon as possible," he underlines.

Msaiki explains that the difference now is that the former governments that had resigned only persisted for days. But what is happening today is the exact opposite. As a result of the surging crises in the country, the formation process takes months. This is unacceptable and this shows the weakness of politicians who only care about their narrow interests that harm the country.

He reckons that the responsibility of lawmakers is huge in this field and that the Parliament must not stop working, not just in legislation, but also in meeting the country's dire needs. Yet today, the Parliament is paralyzed and legislations are in-limbo down to political quandaries.

Msaiki then called to separate the legislative and executive powers since priority is for legislation, provided that the next stage there will be agreement o the executive power's decisions. If these decisions are righteous, the government is given confidence. Nonetheless, we do not know today whether it is the Parliament or the government that is ruling.

Going back in the annals of time, Msaiki recalls when he was still a lawmaker back in 1969 and when the caretaker government of Rashid Karami stayed for six months in office, due to the ailing political situation back then.

Commenting on what is happening today, he sees that the formation of governments is subject to the conditions set by politicians, whereby each political leader considers himself as the representative of his confession which is now more of a mini cabinet that imposes its terms to the extent that we have now a government of governments.

On convening the cabinet amid a caretaker government, Msaiki maintains that that speaking of a cabinet meeting during exceptional times makes no sense because the current juncture is not extraordinary. The only acceptable exception is the work on forming the government away from political obstacles.

He also shines light on the current sectarian and confessional incitement and on the implication of Hezbollah in the battles in Syria, stressing that the Prime Minister is Lebanon's protector. He thus reminded of the national positions of former PMs Saeb Salam and Rashid Karami to shun sectarian strife, criticizing the stances of some politicians nowadays, especially MP Michel Aoun who, according to Msaiki, changes his mind on the sought form of the cabinet.
He even said that Aoun seeks to foment conflict among the Sunni political leaders.

"We are with whatever saves the country. We are today in a time of salvation and we must all close ranks," he says.