The government on Thursday decided during a cabinet session to reactivate the ministerial panel that is tasked with devising a new electoral law, as Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced that Lebanon is “on the verge of a comprehensive and major solution.”
Hariri will set a date for the panel's meeting, LBCI TV said, as MTV reported that the reactivation of the committee was President Michel Aoun's idea.
The Cabinet, which had not convened for several weeks due to the electoral law crisis, has 105 items on its agenda including pressing issues.
Information Minister Melhem Riachi told reporters that the conferees “unanimously” agreed during the session that there will be no new extension of parliament's term.
“Each party voiced its stance on the issue of voting (on an electoral law in Cabinet) and President Aoun described it as bitter but a necessary solution,” Riachi added.
“A vote on the electoral law might become a necessity should we fail to agree and we hope we will be able to agree, but we cannot bypass the constitution,” LBCI quoted Aoun as saying during the session.
MTV said the president “raised the principle of voting at the beginning of the session.”
“What should we do if we reach a dead end,” Aoun asked the conferees, according to MTV.
Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh of the Progressive Socialist Party meanwhile voiced his objection to “the principle of voting in Cabinet,” MTV said.
“We should not reach voting and we should instead reach consensus on the electoral law,” Hamadeh said.
Aoun had announced at the beginning of the session that “the Lebanese want the electoral law to reflect correct and just representation among the sects.”
“Any new law will not take from the share of one sect to give another,” Aoun reassured.
Hariri for his part said “we are on the verge of a comprehensive and major solution and we must exert serious efforts to reach an electoral law.”
Several ministers had voiced stances on the electoral law before entering the cabinet session.
“Our approach on the electoral law is based on the principle and mechanism: we are against extension, vacuum and the 1960 law. We support the ongoing deliberations and should there be no agreement, we must go to a vote,” Social Affairs Minister Pierre Bou Assi of the Lebanese Forces said.
“We are seeking to guarantee people's right through a fair law and we must preserve our parliamentary system,” he added.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil meanwhile reassured that “ties are not severed” between Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
“They held a phone conversation yesterday,” he revealed.
Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hizbullah said: “Our stance is clear: we are calling for consensus on the electoral law so that we avoid the bad choices – extension, the 1960 law and vacuum – and the electoral law is a pivotal issue that requires consensus.”
“Our principled stance calls for proportional representation and a single electoral district, but we have expressed openness to all proposals and we have been extremely positive. God willing all parties will realize the risks that we are going through these days,” Hajj Hassan added.
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