Islamic Endowments Says Nomination Door for Elections 'Closed', Mesqawi Refutes Members' Candidacy Rumors

The general directorate of Islamic Endowments announced on Thursday the end of the legal deadline for coming forward with nominations for the Higher Islamic Council's elections.

"We call on the members of the electoral authority to participate and fulfill their duty of electing a new HIC,” the Endowments said, pointing out that this would assure the “higher Islamic interest”.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani had set Sunday April 14 a date for the elections.

Meanwhile, Future TV reported that the State Council has stopped preparing for holding the HIC's elections on the date announced by Qabbani.

The deputy head of the Council, Omar Mesqawi said on Thursday that the current HIC term ends on December 31, 2013, remarking that “its extension until the end of this year contradicts with holding the elections on April 14”.

"Rumors being irresponsibly propagated about current members submitting their candidacy for elections are not true,” Mesqawi clarified.

He added: “HIC's members are holding talks and exercising their powers. They are also working under the law to secure an elections that would give the council back its role”.

The HIC elects the mufti and organizes the affairs of Dar al-Fatwa, Lebanon’s top Sunni religious authority.

Mufti Qabbani is refusing to hold any meetings at Dar al-Fatwa for considering that the HIC's term has expired.

Last year, the Shura Council suspended a call for the elections after 21 HIC members, who are close to ex-Premier Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal movement, filed a challenge against Qabbani's invitation to hold the polls.

Differences between them spread when the 21 members extended the term of the council until the end of 2013 despite the objection of Qabbani, who argues that the extension is illegal and the council’s term has expired.