BEIRUT: The Cabinet Tuesday approved funding for municipal elections, paving the way for polls to be held on time in May and dispelling fears of an extension of local councils’ terms. However, ministers failed to endorse a decree that would have made Civil Defense volunteers full-time employees, despite promises by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk that such action would be taken during Tuesday’s session.

The Cabinet also skirted the Future Movement’s demand to refer the case of former Minister Michel Samaha to the Judicial Council, a sensitive issue that could have caused a new split and threatened the reactivation of the government’s work following months of deadlock.

In a quick response to the Cabinet snub, Civil Defense volunteers, who have been staging a sit-in in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square since last September demanding full-time employment, exploded with rage, blocking vital roads across Lebanon, setting fire to their uniforms and pledging not to carry out any mission before the decree is passed.

“In the name of God we, Muslims and Christians [from the Civil Defense], pledge that we shall not conduct any mission until the decree is passed,” one of the volunteers swore. Others repeated the pledge at the Martyrs’ Square protest site.

Following the Cabinet meeting, Machnouk sought to placate the Civil Defense volunteers, promising that the decree would be approved at next week’s session. He appealed to the volunteers to avoid using “negative means to attain their rights because this will weaken their case and threaten their rights.”

Ministerial sources said Machnouk proposed during the Cabinet session increasing the price of 20 liters of gasoline, currently selling at about LL20,000, by LL3,000 to fund the costs of making the estimated 2,400 Civil Defense volunteers full-time employees. But the proposal sparked a row among ministers, some of whom totally rejected the proposal while others voiced reservations.

Separately, Speaker Nabih Berri said he had information that some political parties, which he did not name, were busy making a tally vote about the parliamentary session, scheduled for Feb. 8, to elect a president.

“These parties are behaving on the basis that a two-thirds quorum is secured and a president will be elected at the Feb. 8 session,” Berri was quoted as saying by his Ain al-Tineh visitors.

Berri, who had indicated he was not optimistic about the election of a president on Feb. 8 due to a lack of quorum, said members of his bloc would attend the session, and if there were a quorum, he would enter the hall to open the electoral session. He stressed, however, that a two-thirds quorum, or 86 of Parliament’s 128 members, should be secured to convene the session.

Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet session, Information Minister Ramzi Joreige said the ministers discussed several matters and approved decrees including a “request by the Interior Ministry to take the necessary measures and to allocate the needed funds to hold the municipal and mayoral elections and by-election in the Jezzine district.”

The Jezzine district in the south is represented in Parliament by three lawmakers: two Maronites and one Melkite Catholic. However, one of the Maronite seats has been vacant since June 2014.

Because of tight time, the Cabinet could not discuss other items on the agenda, including Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi’s demand from outside the agenda to refer Samaha’s case to the Judicial Council, Joreige said. The Cabinet decided to hold two sessions next week, on Wednesday and Thursday.

A spat erupted during the session between Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Zeaiter and two of the Free Patriotic Movement’s ministers, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, after they accused Zeaiter of not allotting road projects in various areas in a just manner, particularly depriving Mount Lebanon of the initiatives. The row ended after Prime Minister Tammam Salam intervened and Zeaiter pledged to present a list of projects at next Thursday’s session.

When Rifi insisted on discussing Samaha’s case, Salam asked him to postpone it until next week. “We will not neglect our security and stability,” Rifi told reporters before entering the session.

While Minister for the Displaced Alice Shabtini voiced support for Rifi’s proposal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Fneish from Hezbollah rejected the call to refer the case to the Judicial Council. “It’s not right to try Samaha twice for one case,” he said.

Samaha, a key ally to Syrian President Bashar Assad, was released by the Military Court of Cassation on nearly $100,000 bail last month despite being convicted in a terror plot to destabilize the country last year.

He was convicted on terrorism charges in May of 2015 for smuggling explosives into Lebanon and planning attacks on political and religious leaders. He was originally sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but following an outcry over the leniency of his sentence, the verdict was annulled and a retrial was ordered.

Meanwhile, the Future parliamentary bloc reaffirmed its support for holding the municipal elections on time and without any delay. It also reiterated past accusations that Hezbollah and MP Michel Aoun were behind the 20-month-long presidential deadlock.

“Hezbollah and its ally Gen. Aoun are continuing the obstruction [of the presidential vote], which leads to a further deterioration of the state’s status, weakening its authority and prestige and threatening the people’s livelihood,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting.

Renewing its call for a quick election of a president, it said Parliament’s Feb. 8 session would be “a real test for the honesty of everyone and those who really want the election of a new president.”