New Proposals Threaten to Complicate Electoral Subcommittee Task

Several proposals made by rival lawmakers during a meeting of a parliamentary subcommittee on Tuesday are likely to delay agreement on an electoral draft-law.

“We continued discussions on all draft-laws and new proposals made by MPs,” said the chairman of the nine-member subcommittee, MP Robert Ghanem, on the first round of the second phase of talks aimed at reaching consensus on an electoral draft-law.

He said discussions will continue in a second session on Tuesday afternoon.

All members called for holding the elections on time and stressed on true partnership between Muslims and Christians, Ghanem told reporters.

The lawmakers on Monday sealed the results of the first phase of their discussions on the proposals and the number of parliament members. Ghanem handed Speaker Nabih Berri the minutes of the meetings during a meeting in Ain el-Tineh.

The second phase which kicked off on Tuesday is aimed at reaching consensus on the electoral draft-law. But several proposals made by the rival MPs showed that the different parties are likely to face difficulties in finding converging ideas.

MP Akram Shehayyeb, who addressed reporters after the subcommittee chairman, said he proposed for parliament to hold intense meetings pending a decision on a modern consensual law based on the Taef accord.

Shehayyeb, who is representing MP Walid Jumblat's centrist Progressive Socialist Party in the meetings, said he also proposed the establishment of a senate and the adoption of administrative decentralization.

Lawmaker Alain Aoun from MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement did not reveal if he had made any new proposals during Tuesday's meeting. The FPM - part of the March 8 majority alliance - is a staunch supporter of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal which calls for considering Lebanon a single district and allowing each sect to elect its own MPs in a propositional representation system.

“We discussed the electoral draft suggestions again. In spite of what was achieved in the past days, discussions took their legislative path,” he said, hinting that the Orthodox proposal would be adopted.

“We should find a solution that combines the rejection to hold the polls based on the 1960 law … and finding an electoral draft-law that receives the backing of all parties,” he told reporters.

Phalange MP Sami Gemayel appeared to be critical of Shehayyeb's proposal, saying he supported discussions on the political system in the country but through another committee and not the subcommittee whose mission is limited to agreeing on an electoral draft-law.

The opposition March 14 lawmaker said he proposed the adoption of either a draft-law that divides Lebanon into 50 districts or the Orthodox Gathering proposal based on a winner-takes-all system and not proportionality.

“I explained to the subcommittee members that it is easy to implement the winner-takes-all system in the Orthodox Gathering,” he told reporters. “But those rejecting it should propose alternatives,” the MP said about the PSP and al-Mustaqbal movement.

Al-Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat said in response to Gemayel's suggestion that al-Mustaqbal agreed for proportionality to be implemented in certain areas “but in other closed regions the winner-takes-all system should prevail.”

“There is a true crisis in the country and we should find a solution that appeases all sides,” he said.

The Orthodox proposal based on a winner-takes-all system made by Gemayel “needs further discussions because it was proposed for the first time” on Tuesday, he said.

As for Shehayyeb's proposal, “it requires that we consult our leaderships,” he said. “All the proposals could have solutions if there is goodwill.”

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, also a member of the March 14 opposition, criticized the suggestion of Shehayyeb, saying it “goes beyond the discussions on an electoral draft-law.”

“We can't discuss issues linked to the system because it would change our mission,” he said about the subcommittee.

While expressing keenness on holding the elections on time, he also said “we can't discuss about abolishing sectarianism” as time is running fast.