The Constitutional Council is among the most recent bodies that came to light in 1993 following the 1989 Taif Agreement.

Establishment

The National Reconciliation Accord known as the Taif Agreement introduced a series of political, administrative and judiciary reforms including the establishment of a constitutional council responsible for interpreting the constitution, reviewing the constitutionality of laws and arbitrating conflicts that arise from parliamentary and presidential elections. The President, Speaker, Prime Minister and a number of MPs (10) were granted the right to turn to the Council and religious leaders were accorded a similar privilege whenever concerns pertaining to religion and personal status emerge.

The Constitutional Council was established pursuant to Law No. 250 issued on 14-7-1993. The Law stipulated that the Council is an independent constitutional body of judicial nature and has a jurisdiction limited to reviewing the constitutionality of laws and adjudicating on challenges to the results of parliamentary and presidential elections. Law No. 243 (and its amendments) dated 7-8-2000 determine the by-laws governing the council.

Members

The council is composed of 10 members, 5 of whom are appointed by a vote held in the parliament with an absolute majority of 128 deputies in the first round and a simple majority in the Second round. The five remaining members are appointed by the Council of Ministers and require a majority of two thirds of the ministers. The members have a six year term of office and are distributed according to confession as follows:

- Two Maronite members including the President

- Two Sunni members including the Vice President

- Two Shia’a members

- Two Greek Orthodox

- One Druze

- One Greek Catholic

Staff members

The Constitutional Council staff is composed of 15 members including 1 grade-two employee, 10 grade-four employees and 4 grade-five employees.

Succeding Presidents

Three members held the presidency of the Constitutional Council since 1993 to date (December 2011):

- Wajdi al-Mallat (1994-1997) who resigned for unclear reasons pertaining to the challenges against 2006 parliamentary results.

- Amine Nassar (1997-2005): Law No. 679 issued on July 19, 2005 delayed the settlement of appeals filed to the Constitutional Council until its final completion which impeded the work of the council from July 2005 till June 2009.

- Issam Suleiman (2009-to date)

Council budget

The 2010 draft budget estimated the Constitutional Council budget at LBP 1,708,340,000 covering the following expenses:

- Stationery, books and resources: LBP 18.8 million

- Electricity, water and communications: LBP 47 million

- Office rental: LBP 335 million

- Cleaning services: LBP 40 million

- Salaries, wages and remunerations: LBP 1,128 million (66% of the budget)

- Conferences in Lebanon and abroad: LBP 48 million

Many pinned their hopes on the Constitutional Council to settle arising electoral conflicts, but unfortunately the council was nipped in the bud due to its confessional structure and limitation of appeal rights to political and religious bodies. Thus, the council stood helpless against electoral and constitutional violations and ended up collapsing and losing its credibility.