Christian Leaders Seek to Unite Stance ahead of Bkirki Meeting
Consultations are ongoing among Christian leaders ahead of a wide meeting at Bkirki on Friday to discuss the new electoral law and a two-page proposal agreed upon between Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Thursday, the Phalange party, Lebanese Forces party, Marada Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement are discussing the possibility of uniting their stances over the proposal.
The newspaper said that al-Rahi will brief the four leaders of the christian parties during Bkirki's meeting on the agreement reached with Berri and Miqati in Rome on Monday.
Media reports said that the two-page document states that political foes should consent on a hybrid electoral law that divides the parliamentary seats equally based on winner-takes-all and proportional systems or 60 percent of MPs be elected through the winner-takes-all and 40 according to the proportional system.
The document also calls on the formation of a senate, where senators would be elected according to the Orthodox Gathering proposal.
The proposal also suggests the formation of an independent authority overseeing the elections and carrying out the senate elections and parliamentary elections on the same day.
In addition to the formation of a new cabinet to supervise the polls.
FPM leader MP Michel Aoun rejected on Tuesday any alternative to the Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law.
“I was not informed of any of the discussions that were held in Rome,” he said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting.
Al-Joumhouria reported that Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel will reiterate during Bkirki meeting his rejection to the adoption of the 1960 law, which is based on winner-takes-all system.
Gemayel will also stress his rejection to the postponement of the polls.
A consensus over an electoral law has yet to be reached after the Orthodox Gathering's proposal that considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system, was opposed by President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Miqati, al-Mustaqbal bloc, the PSP, and the independent Christian MPs of the March 14 opposition.
They argue that the proposal harms the social fabric and increases sectarian tension.
Suleiman and Miqati have signed a decree that sets the elections on June 9 based on the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 polls over the lack of agreement between the bickering parliamentary blocs.
Their call have drawn the ire of the March 8 majority coalition which has rejected the law.
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