Electoral Subcommittee Faces 'Fateful' Week to Find Common Ground among Rivals
The electoral subcommittee resumed talks on Monday to find common ground between rival parties on an electoral law that better represents all Lebanese factions and sects.
The subcommittee chairman MP Robert Ghanem told reporters gathered at the parliament after the first round of talks that “Tuesday is the last day to suggest amendments on the hybrid electoral law.”
He pointed out that the second round of talks in the afternoon will be held away from media spotlight.
Earlier, Ghanem said in comments to An Nahar newspaper that “if attendees had clear intentions, we will probably reach an agreement on a hybrid law acceptable by all parties.”
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed hope in comments published in several newspapers on Monday that the subcommittee members would be able to reach “positive” outcomes, saying that “the matter will be referred to the joint parliamentary committees if they failed.”
“It is a decisive week... We will not extend the period of the subcommittee meetings,” he said.
Berri pointed out that the joint parliamentary committees will focus on the controversial Orthodox Gathering proposal as it has received the majority's backimg during the subcommittee meetings.
The subcommittee has discussed several proposals, the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, a draft-law that divides Lebanon into 50 districts based on a winner-takes-all system and a bill referred to parliament by the government and that calls for 13 districts based on proportionality.
The majority of the subcommittee's members have supported the Orthodox proposal which calls for a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.
But al-Mustaqbal bloc, from the opposition, and the the Democratic Gathering of centrist MP Walid Jumblat have criticized it and stood firm in favor of a winner-takes-all system.
Lawmaker Ahmed Fatfat, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc's representative in the subcommittee, stressed that his party rejects adopting the proposal during the upcoming parliamentary elections.
However, he noted that al-Mustaqbal will succumb to the de facto situation and will not boycott elections if the Orthodox proposal was adopted out of a decision of not boycotting the polls.
The subcommittee is currently tasked with discussing the hybrid proposal that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems made by Berri's Liberation and Development parliamentary bloc, after the joint parliamentary committees extended the mission of the electoral subcommittee.
The speaker said that a hybrid electoral law became a “necessity” for any consensus or settlement among the foes.
For his part, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea revealed to the daily that the “subcommittee has achieved a tangible progress.”
He warned of “entering a dark and dangerous tunnel” if the bickering parties failed to achieve agreements.
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