Report: Aoun Resolves Controversy over His Stances on Electoral Law

President Michel Aoun is expected to issue a statement to resolve the controversy over refraining from signing a decree inviting the electorate bodies to begin preparations for the looming parliamentary polls, and the interpretations that spread about his “preference for vacuum at the parliament,” al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday.

The Directorate General of the Presidency will issue the statement that includes the President's position after he refused to sign a decree --signed by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq-- that initiates preparations for the parliamentary elections due in May in order to avoid staging the polls based on the current controversial 1960 majoritarian law.

It also aims at resolving the controversy after he stated preference for vacuum at the parliament instead of staging the elections based on the current 1960 law or another extension of the parliament's term, added the daily.

Lebanon's political parties are bickering over amending the current election law which divides seats among the different religious sects.

The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the parliament has since extended its own mandate twice.

Aoun, his Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah have repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but al-Mustaqbal Movement and Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat have both rejected the proposal.

Mustaqbal argues that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds while Jumblat has warned that such an electoral system would “marginalize” the minority Druze community whose presence is concentrated in the Chouf and Aley areas.

The political parties are meanwhile discussing a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.