Sami Gemayel: All Sides Must Work on Reaching Electoral Law that Offers Best Christian Representation
Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel stressed on Monday the need to reach an agreement over a parliamentary electoral law that offers best representation for all powers and which enjoys the greatest consensus.
He said after the party's weekly politburo meeting: “It is time for all sides to abandon their arrogance and reach an electoral law that offers real Christian representation.”
“Despite our reservations on the Taef Accord, it speaks of a decentralized administration, the formation of a senate, and fair representation at parliament and cabinet,” he noted.
He added however that these reforms have not been implemented.
“We reject talk of the illegitimacy of a certain law because the current political system in Lebanon is unconstitutional,” Gemayel said.
“The adoption of an electoral law that offers real partnership will act as the starting point for the needed reform that has not been implemented for 23 years and which has been marked with the negligence of Christians' rights,” declared the MP.
“We are open to suggestions over the electoral law and we made proposals of our own that have been rejected. We will do our utmost to ensure the approval of a law that garners the most consensus,” he stated.
Addressing reports that Hizbullah has been involved in the Syrian crisis, Gemayel said: “This is the first time that the party acknowledged that it is officially taking part in the fighting in Syria,” he said.
“This admission has very dangerous repercussions on Lebanon, keeping in mind that the country has become the backyard of the Syrian conflict with control being lost over the border,” he stated.
He reiterated the Phalange Party's commitment to the Baabda Declaration that stressed the need for Lebanon to steer away from regional conflicts.
Meddling in these affairs will harm the country's stability and one cannot but think of Lebanese expatriates working in the Arab countries who may be affected by negative positions taken in Lebanon, he continued.
Moreover, Gemayel added: “The government cannot distance itself from the positions of heads of political blocs that are part of the government itself.”
“It must assume its responsibility and not disassociate itself from these officials,” he remarked.
He made his remarks in light of statements issued by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the Bahrain crisis.
The FPM leader had told al-Alam television last week that the demands of the protesters in Bahrain are “fair and justified.”
He also criticized the Arab League and international community for failing to support the protests.
On Monday, an official of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Louay al-Meqdad, accused Hizbullah of carrying out an “unprecedented invasion” backed by Syrian artillery fire in villages in central Syria.
He said: “Hizbullah's invasion is the first of its kind in terms of organization, planning and coordination with the Syrian regime's airforce.”
His comments came a day after the opposition Syrian National Council said Hizbullah fighters crossed into Homs province of central Syria on Saturday and attacked three Syrian villages in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border.
A Hizbullah official said three Lebanese Shiites were killed in clashes in Syria while acting in "self-defense,” without specifying if they were party members.
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