BEIRUT: Some Lebanese lawmakers are promising that addressing people’s socio-economic needs, building a strong state and passing needed draft laws will top their agendas in 2012 as the current year comes to a close.

Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan’s New Year resolution is to reduce political strife in the country and the region.

“My aim is to focus on people’s demands which we can achieve, whether economic or living demands or [what I can do] in terms of legislation,” says Kanaan, who is a member of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.

“I don’t want people’s priorities to be sidelined in the midst of political struggle in the country and the region,” Kanaan adds.

Another priority for Kanaan, who chairs Parliament’s Finance and Budget committee, is to finish studying the 2012 draft budget and have Parliament pass the measure.

“This will be a big achievement for Lebanon which has been without a budget since 2005,” he says.

New Year’s Eve will give Kanaan, whose “work consumes most of my time,” some time to spend with his family. “But also I make use of this time to be alone ... staying alone is important [to take a break] from political and social life,” he adds with a laugh.

Beirut MP Ammar Houri usually spends New Year’s Eve in a similar family gathering.

“Either I go to my relatives’ place or they come to mine,” he says.

Houri notes that the main goals he seeks to achieve in 2012 are in line with those of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc – of which he’s a member – along with those of the March 14 coalition.

“These are the transition to the state and adhering to the Taif agreement,” he says.

Houri is optimistic that efforts by March 14 Beirut MPs to reach an arms-free Beirut, a topic which gained political momentum recently, would bear fruit in 2012.

“Logically speaking, yes [this goal will be achieved in 2012], simply because arms have become a burden on people who carry them,” he says.

“You know how much a Lebanese is devastated when he loses a martyr on the hands of the Israeli enemy, so imagine how he will feel if a relative is killed by another Lebanese,” the lawmaker explains.

Pressing social issues seem to top the agenda of Baalbek-Hermel MP Marwan Fares, who promises to push Parliament for passing a draft law to protect women from domestic violence.

“It is unacceptable that Lebanon remains without a law that bans violence against women,” says the Syrian Social Nationalist Party politician.

Also, Parliament is concerned with endorsing a new election law before the parliamentary elections of 2013, according to Fares.

“We [in the SSNP] have proposed a law calling for the adoption of the entirety of Lebanon as one electoral district under a proportional representation system,” the MP explains.

Fares says he plans to welcome the New Year with close friends as he spent Christmas Eve with family members.

Another priority for Fares in 2012 is to elevate prison conditions in the country. The central prison of Roumieh saw deadly riots in April, While inmates and their families have continually protested chronic overcrowding and slow trial procedures.

But for Beirut MP Nadim Gemayel, building a strong state is the right path to improving all aspects of life in Lebanon. “Everything will become okay once we have a strong state, the security, the economy,” he says, adding that this goal would be among his priorities in 2012.

Gemayel, a member of the Kataeb (Phalange) Party, explains that he will continue to pinpoint everything “wrong” in the performance of the state until a strong state emerges in Lebanon, a core principle of his party.

On the regional level, Gemayel vows to support the popular uprisings which are sweeping the Arab world. “We will adhere to freedom and other values that we call for.”

As for New Year’s Eve, the lawmaker notes that he has yet to decide where to spend it, but is sure it will be with friends at a “calm place.”

Baabda MP Bilal Farhat, from Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc, notes that no matter how hard he works in the New Year, he will fail to meet all the demands of people. “There is a lot that needs to be done in the health, humanitarian and social fields,” adds Farhat.

“Unfortunately, people are in need of so much, and no matter how we try to meet these demands, we are not up to expectations,” he says.