Bou Assi Says LF Has Restrictions on 'Resistance' Clause, Stresses Adherence to Hybrid Law
Minister of Social Affairs Pierre Bou Assi stressed on Saturday that some issues in the government's policy statement require more discussions, as he assured that the LF is seeking a hybrid election law in the upcoming parliamentary elections, the National News Agency reported.
“There are still some pending issues in the ministerial statement which require more discussions and positions,” NNA quoted Bou Assi in an interview to Free Lebanon radio.
A ministerial committee tasked with drafting the new government's policy statement finalized the draft on Friday, but the LF representative, Bou Assi, said the party needs more time to discuss a clause related to the “resistance against Israel.”
Replying to Hizbullah media reports claiming that the Lebanese Forces is in favor of keeping the 1960 elections law in order to increase the number of its lawmakers, Bou Assi said: “No one has exerted the same efforts that the LF has in order to approve a new electoral law.
“The efforts we made and still do, together with the Progressive Socialist Party and al-Mustaqbal Movement, to reach a hybrid law are immense.”
Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.
Hizbullah on the other hand has repeatedly called for an electoral law based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.
The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.
The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.
Source: Naharnet
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