Suleiman Postpones Parliamentary Elections for One-Week
President Michel Suleiman signed on Saturday a decree that postpones the parliamentary elections that were set to be held on June 9 for one week.
According to the state-run National News Agency, Suleiman signed a decree that calls on amending the previous decree for holding polls on June 9, setting elections for Sunday, June 16.
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel called on Friday for the postponement the parliamentary elections from June 9 to 16.
He said that this step is aimed at giving candidates more time to submit their nominations.
The deadline for submitting the nominations was also extended from April 10 to 24.
The extension is also aimed at paving the way for more time for the political powers to reach an agreement over an electoral law, added Charbel.
The rival parties have so far failed to agree on an electoral draft-law after the leaders and representatives of the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party and the Marada Movement agreed to suspend the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal on Monday, leaving the door open for rival MPs to strike a deal on a new electoral draft-law.
The proposal, which had been severely rejected by centrist Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's bloc, considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional repsentational system.
Earlier, An Nahar newspaper quoted Suleiman's visitors as saying that those seeking to run in the parliamentary elections should submit their candidacies according to the 1960 electoral law, which is still in effect given that a new electoral law has not yet been approved by parliament.
Suleiman explained that at the end of the deadline, candidates who run uncontested will be victorious in the elections before they are even held.
“All political blocs, even those opposed to the 1960 law, have completed their preparations for the elections according to this law,” revealed Suleiman.
The rival March 8 and 14 camps have rejected the amended version of the 1960 law that was adopted during the last parliamentary elections held in 2009.
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