Tripoli elects new mayor, ending five years of political discord

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A new mayor for Tripoli was elected Thursday in a development that ended a five-year crisis caused by recurring political conflicts between the municipal council members.

Amer Rafei, a council member from the Future Movement, was selected as the northern city’s new mayor in a predetermined election.

In a session held at the office of North Lebanon Governor Ramzi Nohra in Tripoli’s governmental Serail, Rafei won the elections with 19 votes out of 20 members who attended the polls.

Three municipal members were absent due to being abroad and one member has already resigned.

“Tripoli has had enough mismanagement from its municipality in the past year,” Rafei said, “which also gives a big challenge to meet the needs of our city and offer our best.”

Rafei was elected five days after former Mayor Nader Ghazal announced his resignation.

Ghazal was elected in 2010 in line with consensus reached between rival politicians maintaining influence in Tripoli: former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, late Prime Minister Omar Karami, former Prime Minister Najib Mikati and former Minister Mohammad Safadi.

But this deal was shaken a year later when Hariri’s Cabinet was toppled by the March 8 coalition and Mikati formed a government in which Safadi and Faisal Karami, Omar’s son, were nominated ministers. Paralysis and disputes have plagued Tripoli’s municipal council since then.

Rafei invited his peers to be responsible and work hard to surpass the current phase.

“I belong to the Future Movement and I’ve been representing this party since 2004 but no one has ever interfered in any of the municipal council’s decisions except when electing a mayor,” Rafei added.

“I promise that the council [members] will work hand in hand with all of the city’s political leaders.”

Nohra congratulated Rafei on his new post after announcing the results. “Hopefully, the council will be able to restore cohesion between its members and bring the wishes and demands of the city’s residents to life,” he said, vowing to support the new mayor in the interests of the city.

Rafei vowed that the municipal council would be united and work on developing impoverished Tripoli and serve its interests.

Political sources told The Daily Star that Ghazal’s resignation came as a result of the Future Movement’s dissatisfaction with his performance.

It came one week after Ghazal was invited for a meeting with Hariri in Saudi Arabia, the sources said.

At the meeting, Hariri asked Ghazal to step down from his post without creating any fuss.

When announcing his resignation, Ghazal accused certain council members, whom he did not name, of adopting “a disruptive agenda that mostly aimed at private interests at the expense of the public good.”

Businessman Tarek Fakhreddine held a banquet at the Palma restaurant in Tripoli in honor of the new mayor in the presence of Tripolitan political and economic figures.