Al-Rahi Warns against 'Parliamentary Extension, Vacuum'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday warned against extending parliament's term or reaching so-called parliamentary vacuum despite the latest optimism about the possibility of approving a new electoral law in Wednesday's Cabinet session.

“Political officials are preoccupied with their partisan interests with the objective of maximizing gains and minimizing losses, and what's more painful is that their only concern is limited to the new electoral law while they have indefinitely suspended all the other pressing issues that are burdening citizens,” al-Rahi said in a Sunday Mass sermon in Harissa.

“Despite our appreciation of all honest efforts and our wishes for them to succeed, we hope they will not reach one of two evils: open-ended extension or parliamentary vacuum,” the patriarch added.

Both scenarios would be “strongly condemned and rejected,” he warned.

Lebanese Forces deputy leader MP George Adwan has stressed that the country will have a new electoral law “on Friday.”

Adwan has played a key role in promoting a draft electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and 15 electoral districts. The parties have agreed on the law's general format but they are still discussing the mechanism of counting votes going for so-called preferred candidates on the electoral ballots and whether it should depend on the electoral districts or the administrative districts.

The Cabinet is however expected to approve the draft law on Wednesday and Parliament is expected to pass it during the Friday legislative session.