Druze leader Walid Jumblat has sided with the rebel Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group which Washington lists as a "terrorist organisation', in the Syrian conflict.

"I support Al-Nusra Front against the Syrian regime," Jumblat said in an interview with Al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday.

An optimism by al-Mustaqbal movement on consensus among the opposition factions and the centrist Progressive Socialist Party on an electoral draft-law was played down on Wednesday by both PSP chief Walid Jumblat and March 14 opposition MP Butros Harb.

“There is nothing final yet on the electoral draft-law,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized on Tuesday President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati after inking an electoral decree the day before, pointing out that he will not call for a parliamentary session if no consensus over the electoral law was reached.

Berri wondered how some officials declare that they oppose the 1960 law, which is based on yjr winner-takes-all system, then work according to it, hinting at Suleiman and Miqati.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that the rich history of Sidon should not be erased by the recent incidents that have taken place in the southern city.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The authority of the state should be restored in Sidon in order to prevent the city from being dragged towards suspicious strife.”

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly expressed concern on Monday over the security situation in Lebanon and along its border, stressing that the parliamentary elections should be held on time.

“I share the concern about the security situation within Lebanon and along its borders,” Connelly said after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Speaker Nabih Berri hinted on Monday that the parliamentary elections set to be held on June 9 will be postponed as he warned that security and not the polls were a priority.

“Just take a look at the very worrying security situation,” Berri told several local newspapers.

The National Struggle Front and al-Mustaqbal bloc are the two major parties that have so far announced that they would boycott a parliamentary session if the Orthodox Gathering proposal was put on its agenda, An Nahar daily reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said that National Struggle Front chief and Druze leader Walid Jumblat and the members of his bloc would boycott the session if Speaker Nabih Berri invites the lawmakers for a General Assembly to vote on the proposal.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday that he was ready to hear proposals on the controversial electoral draft-law after he withdrew his hybrid plan, which became a point of contention between the March 8 majority and the March 14 opposition alliances.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, Berri said he has “now become in the position of hearing” proposals.

President Michel Suleiman and the independent MPs of the March 14 opposition alliance closed the chapter of the dispute on the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Thursday, Jumblat praised Suleiman and the independent Christian lawmakers for obstructing the “suicidal proposal” which calls for a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati is holding onto his stance from the so-called Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law, reiterating his rejection to the adoption of the proposal, media reports said on Tuesday.

Sources close to the premier pointed out in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper that he informed officials that he will not attend any parliamentary session set to vote on the Orthodox proposal.