Established Political Parties Happy With Beirut Bar Association Control Again
-
Roshan Amiri
- . November 23, 2021
- . Update: November 24, 2021 2:15 pm
Lebanon–Anti-government protests rock Beirut roads as Lebanese lawyers took to the roads. Established political parties that were prominent seemed to have taken over the Beirut Bar Association in Lebanon. Two years back, the control had stayed with independent candidates in a wave that was swept by anti-establishment sentiments.
Nine people have been elected to the Bar Association now and all of them are from established political parties. Nader Gaspar, who was backed by the Future Movement, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement, was elected president in the vote on Sunday afternoon, securing about 1,530 votes. The selections in 2019 were approved by the anti-establishment supporters. This included independent candidates like Melhem Khalaf; promising some concentrate wider political change for the good of Lebanon.
No one is happy with this political misrepresentation and mockery of law. The battle for Lebanon’s powerful unions and syndicates is widely seen as a precursor to parliamentary elections due in March. Unlike control over the architects and engineers could be worked through a syndicate setup, the same cannot be said about the Beirut Bar Association that is marred by internal disunity.
In Lebanon, lawyers enjoy immunity from prosecution, which can be lifted only by the bar association. Also, it is the bar that has been responsible of investigation and ruling about the Beirut port blast. An indication of better co-operation among establishment parties came when the Kataeb-backed candidate Alexander Nader withdrew before the final round of voting for the Bar’s president, in an apparent bid to avoid splitting the vote.
