Berri: Discussions on Electoral Law Must Set National Interests above All Else
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Speaker Nabih Berri hoped on Wednesday that positive talks would be held on the parliamentary electoral law that was approved by cabinet on Tuesday.
He said: “Discussions should set national interests above all else.”
He made his remarks after his weekly meetings with lawmakers.
“Discussions should also focus on ensuring fair representation at parliament and steer away from increasing the political divide among the Lebanese people,” continued the speaker.
The cabinet approved on Tuesday an electoral law based on proportional representation and which divides Lebanon into 13 electoral districts.
The decision was condemned by the head of the National Struggle Front bloc MP Walid Jumblat who slammed the government’s adoption of a new electoral law in the absence of a single sovereign state that enjoys the decision of war and peace.
In remarks to several newspapers, he said: “The electoral law cannot be discussed calmly in a tense sectarian atmosphere and in the absence of a single authority and a single state.”
Former PM Saad Hariri also slammed the law on Tuesday, saying that it only caters to the interests of Hizbullah and its allies.
08 August 2012, 16:26
00
Ya Assteez it is very clever the way the districts are set up lumping areas together, basically adding a strong minority of Shiites to Christian, Sunni and Druze voting areas and keeping areas with a Shiite majority unchanged. With proportional representation you get to influence non Shiite representation while controlling the majority Shiite areas. So proportionality works only in non Shiite areas, you should say "this electoral law must set Shiite interests above all else".
08 August 2012, 16:52
02
Berri has Syria's, Iran's and his pockets above all other interests...
09 August 2012, 00:34
01
Since they have stolen power at gunpoint, now they want to steal it by manipulating the electoral law. Yesterday rue by consensus as per the constitution, and otherwise illegitimacy. They were the key words. Today, it's: I do what I please at gunpoint or else it' s chaos! And what I impose on others, raping the voters and the last election results, is for the National Interest ! Berry and Nasrallah go and bury yourselves in some garbage dump in Dahyé or else someone will do it some day for you. I hope it will be the victorious Syrian freedom fighters, which we'll call in for the same pretenses you used when you brought the baath mafiosos into Lebanon, and not the Israelis!
