Bassil Welcomes New Electoral Law, Says It 'Greatly Improves Representation'

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil welcomed Tuesday the electoral law format that the political parties had agreed on earlier in the day, noting that the new electoral system “will greatly improve representation.”

“We have managed to drop vacuum, extension and the 1960 law and the Lebanese will have a law that will greatly improve representation,” said Bassil after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.

“Minorities in Beirut have been done justice and their parliamentary seat has been returned to its place in the first district,” Bassil added.

“We had called for proportional representation with restraints and this is what happened through the division of districts,” the FPM chief boasted.

He vowed however that “the battle for improving representation will continue” until Christians become able to “elect 64 out of 64 MPs” with their own votes.

Bassil also described Tuesday's agreement as “an achievement for all Lebanese.”

And while noting that it is up to President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri to set a date for the elections, Bassil noted that the FPM wants the polls to be held “as soon as possible.”

As per the political agreement that was reached earlier in the day at the Grand Serail, the so-called preferred vote will be counted in the 26 administrative districts and not in the 15 electoral districts, a demand that the Free Patriotic Movement had long called for.

The FPM argues that counting the preferred vote in the smaller administrative districts would grant Christians a higher ability to choose their representatives with their own votes.

The preferred vote is a mechanism through which a voter chooses their preferred candidate on a certain electoral ballot, granting that candidate an advantage during the distribution of seats on winners.