Controversy in Lebanon over the Constitutional Council's powers after its ruling on the penalties law

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1. 13 Oct 2026, 07:25 MP Bilal Abdullah, head of the parliamentary Health, Labor and Social Affairs Committee, said in a post on X that the Constitutional Council's powers are limited to confirming the constitutionality of laws, accusing the Council of amending the law reducing penalties and changing many of its tracks "with political backgrounds and pre-emptive stances," which he said constitutes an infringement on Parliament's constitutional legislative authority. He said the Council has the right to reject or accept the appeal, but that what happened raises many questions.
2. 13 Oct 2026, 09:09 Former MP Hadi Hbeich wrote on his X account that the Constitutional Council's ruling raised controversy over the limits of its powers in monitoring the constitutionality of laws, particularly the distinction between annulling texts that violate the Constitution and interpreting them in a binding manner to the point of amending their content. He expressed appreciation for the Council's president and members but declared his disagreement with the ruling, saying the Constitution, the law establishing the Council and its internal rules define its powers as monitoring the constitutionality of laws.
3. 13 Oct 2026, 20:49 The Justice and Legislation Commission of the Progressive Socialist Party regretted what it described as "the Constitutional Council exceeding its powers" in its ruling related to the general amnesty law, saying it went beyond the limits set for it by Article 19 of the Constitution, and that interpreting texts does not permit re-drafting them or adding provisions to them since that is the prerogative of the legislative authority. The Commission noted that thousands of detainees are awaiting the implementation of the amnesty law amid prison overcrowding and slow trials.

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