Ziad Baroud: The Minister That Never Was

High hopes were pinned on former Lebanese minister of Interior Ziad Baroud to affect change from within. But with little to show for, the young lawyer is seeking different venues to get back on the activism track

The small office of former Lebanese Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud on Monot Street has little empty space. Lebanese electoral maps cover the wooden walls. Boxed files are stacked on the ground. A few months ago, Baroud returned to civilian life, to his casual clothes and hairstyle, leaving behind the cars and bodyguards common to Lebanese politicians and putting away his grey and blue flecked suits.

Lebanese who are nostalgic for Baroud’s time in office are wondering about his future. They favorably compare his performance and speeches to those of the new minister, Marwan Shirbil. But Baroud’s two terms as minister of interior were beset by crises and disappointments.

According to Baroud, the end of his term was “unbearable,” because he was targeted by anyone hoping to attack Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. His dealings with recalcitrant civil servants at the ministry were more difficult than discussions with other ministers or the prime minister during cabinet meetings.

What Baroud remembers most vividly during his last six months in office were his ongoing arguments with head of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Ashraf Rifi. Rifi, associated with the Hariri camp, was politically immune to attack. Arguing with Rifi was like arguing with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Civil servants belonging to the Future Movement quickly turned any confrontation into an attack on their sect, their movement, and the memory of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Despite the tension between the former minister and Rifi, Baroud commends the latter. “Major General Rifi has calmed down,” Baroud says. “The Future Movement and the civil servants loyal to it are now mindful of the changes that have taken place in the government.”

Baroud says circumstances now favor the current Mikati government, because there is “a minimum level of agreement within the government and nowadays political performance has changed.” He finds that the problems of financing current government projects are “easy” compared to the “crises we used to find ourselves in, when one innocent word would cause an argument between ministers.”

Baroud did not want to join the cabinet after the 2009 elections, because he felt he accomplished what he intended: “I did not want to get bogged down in politics.” He believes he successfully administered parliamentary elections held during his tenure, a task that required a neutral personality during a time of particularly sharp divisions between the March 8 and March 14 camps.

During talks to form the current government, Baroud visited the presidential palace in Babdaa to discuss the subject with Suleiman. He asked that Suleiman keep their meeting secret. Baroud received several proposals at the time, one offering him the post of minister of justice instead of minister of interior. He refused because “at the ministry of the interior, the minister has some power over the officers and the civil servants, but at the ministry of justice, the judiciary’s power is independent.”

When he now speaks of his term in office, he seems to betray a sense of disappointment. In a soft voice, Baroud pokes fun at analysts who claim that General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and its bloc in parliament supported him. He says he was targeted by both Aoun’s coalition and the Future Movement and its March 14 allies. The young professional and active lawyer says he was the scapegoat minister, and the President was unable to protect him. The political campaigns destroyed Baroud’s image, an image he is now trying to restore.

Baroud’s office has a picture of several of his students demonstrating in downtown Beirut calling for more freedoms in 1997, as well as illustrations on the subject of democracy. An electoral map leans against the wall, and next to it there is a transparent plastic ballot box that contains papers from his time in office. He says proudly, “I was a candidate everyone could agree on, and I was charged with organizing the elections.” He maintains that it is difficult for him to convince anyone that he has no ambitions to run in the next elections.

Baroud spends most of his time now on electoral law reform, and his interest in this area has taken him to other Arab countries. A short while ago, he visited Tunisia to offer advice on possible electoral reforms after the country’s popular revolution. He admires the Tunisian experience that included wide ranging reforms, the first of which was the establishment of a completely independent body to supervise parliamentary elections. Tunisians also imposed quotas encouraging women and young candidates to run in elections.

As part of his interest in electoral law, Baroud is in contact with Bahij Tabbara, a former Lebanese minister. Together they are preparing a proposal on proportional representation, an electoral system many believe would undermine the current sectarian structure governing Lebanon. Baroud says their proposal “is not about a political party, tendency, movement or coalition,” but simply a campaign calling for proportional representation and hoping to raise awareness about the issue. Baroud confirms that they have not gone into the project’s details, but he feels that Tabbara is an intelligent person who will help move the project forward.

Although Baroud hopes to see proportional representation implemented in Lebanon, he is pessimistic about its acceptance among Lebanon’s political elite. He predicts that the prevailing political groups will never agree to such electoral reforms, because their direct or indirect interest are heavily vested in the status quo.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.