Report: Berri Suggests Adopting Jumblat's Electoral Law Based on 13 Districts

Speaker Nabih Berri continued on Tuesday his consultations with various political powers to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law, reported As Safir newspaper Wednesday.

It said that he held a meeting with Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat and Phalange MP Sami Gemayel to that end and during which he proposed a law based on 13 districts and the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.

This is the same law that was suggested by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, highlighted As Safir.

Fatfat responded to Berri that he will need time to study it, revealing that the proposal was not tackled when it was presented to the electoral subcommittee because of the March 8 camp's opposition to it.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Wednesday that Fatfat considers Jumblat's proposal as the basis for discussions over a hybrid electoral law that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.

The Mustaqbal bloc however has expressed reservations over its division of Lebanon into 13 electoral districts, to which Berri replied that he is not opposed reviewing the division of the districts.

Jumblat's proposed electoral law calls for the election of 70 percent of MPs based on the winner-takes-all system and the rest based on the proportional representation system.

As Safir added that the speaker had also proposed to Fatfat and Gemayel a draft law based on the one-man one-vote, which is based on the winner-takes-all system.

The Mustaqbal MP however rejected the suggestion, explaining that it is “another version of the law based on proportional representation.”

Gemayel however positively received it, remarking that a single vote will make up for the large districts that would be adopted for the law.

Berri had granted political blocs until May 15 to reach an agreement over a new electoral law before calling parliament to session to vote on the Orthodox Gathering proposal that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees.

President Michel Suleiman, caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, Jumblat's National Struggle Front, the Mustaqbal Movement, and independent March 14 MPs have rejected the law, saying that it deepens sectarian divisions in Lebanon.

The Orthodox Gathering law divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

The political powers have so far failed to reach an agreement on an alternative law, threatening to postpone the parliamentary elections that are scheduled for June 16.