Jumblat and Bloc Members File Electoral Candidacies Based on 1960 Law
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
National Struggle Front members led by MP Walid Jumblat submitted on Thursday to the interior ministry their candidacies for the parliamentary elections.
The National News Agency said the seven candidates are Jumblat, Nehme Tohme, Elie Aoun and Alaeddine Terro from the Shouf district, Akram Shehhayeb representing electorates in Aley, Ayman Shuqair from Baabda and Wael Abu Faour from the Western Bekaa.
The submission of their candidacies for the polls was based on the controversial 1960 law that considers the qada an electoral district and is based on the winner-takes-all system.
The delegate of Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party, who submitted the candidacies, told reporters outside the interior ministry that the move was in harmony with the stance of President Michel Suleiman on avoiding a vacuum in the absence of a new electoral law.
“The 1960 law is still effective until we agree on an alternative electoral law,” said Nashat Husniyeh.
Asked why PSP member Caretaker Minister Ghazi Aridi hadn't filed his candidacy, Husniyeh said: “Aridi is not willing to run in the polls.”
The filing of candidacies by Jumblat's bloc is likely to draw the anger of the main Christian parties that on Wednesday agreed during a meeting chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki not to run in the upcoming elections under the 1960 law.
The leaders and representatives of the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party and the Marada Movement also agreed to suspend the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, 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 Jumblat's bloc, considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional presentational system.
The Christian leaders asked Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Wednesday to stop accepting applications from candidates registering to run in the polls under the 1960 law.
But Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that he can't prevent anyone from filing his candidacy.
“The Bkirki meeting's request is not based on the law. It is only moral,” he said.
04 April 2013, 12:10
137
In your dreams Jumblatt. The Orthodox Law will end your theft and hijacking of the Christian vote, and they will finally regain their equal rights. Once they do, you will be reduced to your actual size.
04 April 2013, 13:06
123
so you hate WJ and other lebanse for disagreeing with you AND you think that the best way to win over THEM is by introducing a sectarian voting law that no one in the right mind in this world today would adopt or even entertain. If you do the numbers - the christians ( i am included- unless you only consider maronite to be christans, others are not) are not entitled for 56 MPs bases on census data. you have to learn how to accept others that don't agree with you. that is the first step towards democracy and free thinking- hmm i forgot you are a hizballah tag along boy...good luck in your endeavors
04 April 2013, 13:06
69
Jumblat can't be trusted.
He will lose control of Govt sway vote if the 1960 law is abolished.
And he knows that.
04 April 2013, 13:33
75
this is politics man. that's how it works. geopolitics.. go with the flow. it has always been like that
04 April 2013, 14:27
212
right just be spineless, no shape no stand just like a nylon bag, tefeh
04 April 2013, 14:11
58
Jumblat can't be trusted by either side.
Whether your M8 or M14 this man is the..... Fox!
04 April 2013, 14:26
114
Bravo Joumblatt! You have successfuly united all disparate Christian parties against you. Thank you for the gift XD
04 April 2013, 14:37
65
very soon u will realize that he is the master of the game.
sorry mr administrator.
04 April 2013, 16:39
95
Yes, Benzona, you are right. Sectarianism did not exist prior to the Orthodox law. Everything was just fine and dandy until then.
04 April 2013, 19:04
01
If I were Jumblat, I, too, would submit my candidacy and much sooner still. You know, guys and dolls or March 14 and kowtowers of worms of the likes of Jumblat, it is very, very, very difficult, no, it is almost impossible to accept that one Mafia is about to be dismantled after so many long years and with so much support from pretty much every enemy Lebanon has ever seen. What more filth is there than this?
04 April 2013, 23:44
30
you guys are soooooooooo dumb walid jumblat is the master of the game and all your bosses are stupid idiots who needs this guy i wish we have patriots in this country cause they're all mobs
