Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said that Prime Minister Najib Mikati will not resign, even if the Amal and Hezbollah parties’ request concerning the fate of Judge Tarek Bitar, responsible for the Beirut port blast probe, goes unmet.

Here’s what we know:

• Ministers of the Shiite parties have been boycotting cabinet sessions for more than two months, causing blockage in government. Hezbollah and Amal are lobbying for the dismissal of the judge.

• “No one has the right to interfere in Judge Bitar's work,” Mawlawi said in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qaba, calling on “all politicians to comply with this principle.”

• He added that even if the request of the Shiite parties is not met, the Prime Minister will not resign. Rumors emerged on Monday about Najib Mikati's possible resignation.

• Mawlawi once again assured that the general elections scheduled for this spring will be held on time, on March 27, 2022. “I will work to ensure that legislative elections are held in accordance with the texts of laws and on time,” he said.

• President Michel Aoun must also sign any decree formalizing the date of elections, and he and his party have been favoring mid-May instead of March.

• FPM’s recently-failed appeal to invalidate electoral law amendments targeted the voting date, the voting methods of expatriates and the calculation of the majority required to pass an act in Parliament. Contrary to the wishes of the President and his party, last October the Parliament advanced the elections from May to March 2022. Meeting on Tuesday, the Constitutional Council did not take a final decision on the appeal due to lack of a majority vote. As a result, the law in question came into force, and voting could take place on March 27.