MP and Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel: Lebanon’s Decentralization Law finally nears completion. Emphasizes that decentralization is a legal mechanism, not a political slogan

BEIRUT —  Kataeb Party leader and Member of Parliament Samy Gemayel stated that Lebanon’s administrative decentralization law is nearly finalized, following over 76 parliamentary committee sessions and more than 200 working hours. Gemayel emphasized that there’s no distinction between “expanded,” “mini,” or “political” decentralization, just one unified administrative decentralization framework.

He also stressed that decentralization is a legal mechanism, not a political slogan, noting its previous misrepresentation in Lebanon.

خلال افتتاح المؤتمر التشاركي الثالث لـ “التجدد للوطن” تحت عنوان “اللامركزية: بعد 76 جلسة و200 ساعة عمل، قانون اللامركزية شبه منجز وينتظر الإرادة السياسيةhttps://t.co/kLHtLIOnXp pic.twitter.com/C9v7k4SqgS

— Samy Gemayel (@samygemayel) April 27, 2025

Gemayel declared that the draft is 95% complete after extensive parliamentary work, criticizing the 2-year stall in the Administration and Justice Committee, and placing responsibility on parliamentary leadership. He stressed local development, and regions need to create multi-year development plans without central government dependency. 

This law could make a political shift which aims to transform sectarian power struggles into local-level competition for better governance. It could also fundamentally restructure Lebanon’s governance by reducing central bureaucracy bottlenecks, mitigating sectarian patronage systems and enabling balanced regional development.   

Regarding tax distribution, he added that local areas retain a portion of taxes, with the remainder redistributed nationally to support underdeveloped regions.