Contacts between Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and the parliamentary majority have not been severed, stated a source from the majority to al-Joumhouriya newspaper in remarks published on Saturday.

It added however that contact between the Druze leader and Damascus has been severed for the time being.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday voiced his total rejection of implementing the proportional representation system in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

In an interview on Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television, Jumblat said: “Before we discuss proportional representation, let’s discuss how we can limit the use of political spending, and unfortunately we have only a little influence left, limited to the so-called Druze electorate, and if the aim is to undermine this influence, then we got the message.”

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi traded salvos of accusations on Thursday over the funding of ministry projects.

Aridi, who has been boycotting cabinet sessions over the past two weeks, said in a press conference that he cannot be a “partner in mismanagement.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat shifted his position, as he is seeking to return to the March 14-led opposition, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

“We’ve budged, we moved to another position and we’re waiting for the right time to announce this,” March 14 sources quoted Jumblat as saying.

The Syrian regime and Hizbullah have agreed on resolving all the obstacles that could cause the collapse of the current cabinet in an attempt to safeguard the government until the parliamentary elections in 2013.

Sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the Syrian leadership and Hizbullah are seeking to guarantee the parliamentary majority during the 2013 elections in cooperation with PM Najib Miqati and without Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is seeking to revive the “Democratic Gathering,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“He is paving way to meet with ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” sources told the daily.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday called for tackling the thorny issue of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a “new, serious and calm manner.”

In his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece Al-Anbaa newspaper, Jumblat stressed that he totally understands “Hizbullah’s reservations over this tribunal,” but noted that “the STL has become a fait accompli.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated that Lebanon’s position at Saturday’s Arab League summit “should not have been the same as Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.”

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Monday: “Lebanon was better off voicing its commitment to the Arab initiative on Syria.”

The government approved a draft law on Friday to ban lawmakers from serving in the cabinet after a heated session over demands by the ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to include the prime minister in the provisions.

The session was chaired by President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace.

The cabinet will hold an extraordinary session on Friday at Baabda Palace to discuss the electoral draft law which is based on proportional representation, al-Liwaa newspaper reported.

The cabinet added three more items to its agenda including the draft law on determining the conditions for acquiring citizenship, suggested by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.