BEIRUT: Ministers will continue studying a draft law for the parliamentary elections of 2013 during one of two Cabinet sessions this week, but administrative appointments are not on the agenda.

Discussions among top officials are ongoing to reach an agreement on civil servant appointments and if consensus is reached on any of the 122 vacant posts, an item could be included on the agenda of the second session.

Fifty-seven items are on the agenda for Thursday’s session which will convene under Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail, while President Michel Sleiman will chair a second session at Baabda Palace Friday with three items on agenda.

As for the agenda of Thursday’s session, there is a draft law to move LL3 billion from the reserve of the 2011 draft budget to the 2011 budget of the prime minister’s office, particularly to the General Directorate of the State Security.

The transfer would be made in line with the law that prohibits exceeding the ceiling of expenditures of the last approved budget, which is from 2005.

Ministers are also set to address a request by the Finance Ministry to move around LL9.5 billion from the reserve of the 2011 draft budget to the Interior Ministry.

It will then be directed to the Internal Security Forces General Directorate to construct buildings and carry out studies to build a new prison in Deir Ammar in the north.

A request from the Transport and Public Works Ministry to send officials to attend a course on the investigation of plane crashes organized by the Luxembourg Aviation Safety Agency in Luxembourg is also expected to be addressed by ministers.

The Cabinet is likely to discuss a draft decree to appoint Brig. Fouad Khoury as acting director general of the General Security Apparatus and a request by Dar al-Fatwa to hold open examinations to appoint full-time employees in Sunni religious courts and to appoint six religious judges.

An offer by a Turkish Company to lease electricity-generating ships to Lebanon may fuel debate between ministers from Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party and Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement.

The same topic prompted an argument between the groups when Energy Minister Gibran Bassil raised the issue in a previous session.

Bassil is also expected to brief ministers on the steps his ministry has been taking since parliament passed a draft law in summer 2010 allowing oil and gas exploration off the Lebanese coast.

In Friday’s session, ministers are expected to discuss a draft law to specify the criteria necessary to be eligible for Lebanese nationality.

The ministers will continue to discuss a draft law for the 2013 parliamentary elections forwarded by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. The electoral draft law is expected to be passed by the Cabinet but unlikely to be endorsed by parliament.