Berri Says No Parliamentary Session Without Agreement over Electoral Law
Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Monday that he will not call for a parliamentary session without previous consensus among the rival parties on the new electoral law.
“I run the sessions, I am one of the main elements of the national pact and I evaluate the interest of the country before I take any decision,” Berri said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.
The speaker pointed out that his duty prompted him to propose the hybrid electoral draft-law that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
He reiterated that the proposal divides the parliamentary seats equally between the proportional representation system and the winners-take-all system.
“I challenge anyone to prove that this formula is biased to either March 14 or 8 coalitions,” Berri said, noting that the only winner will be Lebanon.
He urged officials that have a better consensual electoral draft-law to propose it.
Asked about criticism by the opposition to the hybrid draft-law, the AMAL leader called on it to suggest a draft-law that the March 8 coalition would agree on.
“We need a law that doesn't favor a side over the other... Some March 14 figures are proposing electoral laws that guarantee their triumph in the elections... I don't think any rival party would agree on that,” Berri added.
The polls are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal which was approved by the joint parliamentary committees.
It divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.
But the proposal has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has been also criticized by President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
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