Jumblat: Adopting Proportional Representation in Electoral Law Will Reproduce Period of Hegemony
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat questioned on Monday the insistence to adopt proportional representation in the parliamentary electoral law.
He noted in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Such a law will, in one way or another, help reproduce the era of hegemony in Lebanon, which will therefore be rejected by all the Lebanese people.”
“The period of hegemony was rife with political assassinations against national, media, and intellectual figures,” he continued.
He added that a proportional representation law will help create a parliament that will be loyal to a foreign “axis that claims to support defiance against Israel and that is on its way to be eliminated.”
Such a parliament will also help elect a president who does not enjoy consensus, remarked the Druze chief.
“Any attempt to restore the era of hegemony will be met with rejection because the Lebanese people refuse to turn back the hands of time, especially when Arab peoples are in revolt against oppressive and dictatorial regimes,” said Jumblat.
Furthermore, the MP added that he was the first to propose proportional representation three decades ago, “before the formation of the current political powers.”
He explained that he had made the suggestion at the time as part of a complete package that would help achieve “real reform in the country’s political system.”
The current proposal of proportional representation is only aimed at “silencing the other,” he stressed.
“Has it become so unbearable for them to tolerate the centrist voices that are seeking to prevent the country from heading towards strife?” asked Jumblat.
“Weren’t centrists the ones who affirmed political principles that called for protecting the resistance’s arms?” he wondered.
“Weren’t they part of the national consensus over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during the 2006 national dialogue?” he continued.
“If only some powers in the majority and others in the minority would exercise humility in order to reasonably tackle issues instead of getting embroiled in daily disputes that don’t even spare the president, who is burdened by the fact that he was elected through consensus instead of being provided with the suitable conditions to be elected,” he remarked.
The PSP leader questioned the campaign against President Michel Suleiman, which he said may be linked to his refusal to hand over Syrian refugees to their country, “where they will be surely executed.”
He also speculated that the campaign may be aimed at preventing the president from expressing his views on the administrative and judicial appointments.
Disputes have recently emerged between Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the appointments of civil servants and a $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill, which the president is being pressured to sign.
The March 8 camp has advocated the adoption of proportional representation for the electoral law, while Jumblat has said that such a law is aimed at limiting his political weight.
30 April 2012, 18:13
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voice of the people is the highest voice joumblat beik
isnt this what are claiming for the syrian people
the same for lebanese people their voice is sacred and proportonality will make more lebanese voices heard , and give each one his rightful size in the representation
and if you despise what happenned at 3anjar time ya beik give back all the gains you got from 3anjar be it political or moral or ,$,....
democracy now in our lebanese political parties
no to feudalism
30 April 2012, 18:18
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Walid doesn't want his political power (weight) to reflect reality. All of Lebanon has to agree (tolerate) with him because he has a hegemony of 1. So does Suleiman but at least he is the President.
30 April 2012, 18:26
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Jumblat has a hegemony of 1 that does not reflect political reality. He is living a fantasy and loves the Power and Attention. Too bad nothing ever gets done and nothing good ever happens. That would be against the rules of good governance in Lebanon and the 1960 Constitution..
30 April 2012, 18:40
10
What exactly does proportional reprensentation mean? Would it mean that sects are represented based on their seize ?
30 April 2012, 19:02
02
@Jbeil, the short answer is that it will eliminate the winner takes all in the elections and instead will allow candidates to succeed based on the proportion of the vote that they get. How @rudes surmises that this favors the Christians is beyond me.
30 April 2012, 20:54
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I am not sure that Arslan gets many more votes; what I know is that last time his seat was secured because Jumblatt agreed to withdraw a candidate. The real challenge for PSP would be Hamade+14 march+proportional in the chouf, it would make him loose his 100% control in the mountains. The Charbel proposal would not change the parity between Christians and Muslims, and as everybody knows in Europe, a proportional method is in favour of centrist parties, allowing them to be independent from coalitions. Nationwide, he would probably get more seats than what he has actually (8), but less than he would have if he regrouped with Hamade&14 march. To Naharnet: please, publish me once in ten times. Please.
30 April 2012, 22:14
01
The proportional representation bill will NOT give Christians more power or more seats in Parliament. It will only favor and spare those political parties who win in their districts by overwhelming lopsided majorities. There is only one party currently who commands that kind of party loyalty and that is Hezbollah.
In Christian districts, where there is multi-party competition, proportional represenation will award seats to those who do not win, but who come in second or third. This means that in Keserwan, Jabel, the Bekaa and especially in Beirut, the M14 parties would stand to loose seats as they win by closer majorites, being more truly democratic districts rather than running in a Hezbollistan atmosphere.
30 April 2012, 22:42
01
We need an election law that disqualifies all the warlords of the Civil War ara from running for a seat and bar all the sheep followers who place any nation or religion above Lebanon from voting. We need fresh blood, forward thinking minds, and patriotic souls.
30 April 2012, 23:39
01
in france no one wants proportionnal electoral laws only the extreme nazi right wing, just like in lebanon....
01 May 2012, 02:00
20
Voting for a list in a large district is gerrymandering, very likely the most undemocratic electoral law.
Realistically, there are three electoral laws worldwide that are deemed to be fair. Single seat per district. Proportional representation. Alternative Voting (Preferential Voting) system.
Seeing that the single seat per district won't work due to the sectarian nature of the elections, it only leaves us with two. However, anyone with the IQ to compare the French electoral system to the current Lebanese system is very unlikely to understand the Alternative Voting system, which really only leaves us with proportional representation.
The single loser from proportional representation is Jumblatt. Everyone else would have roughly the same parliamentary block.
01 May 2012, 03:21
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The proportional law won't pass because Jumblatt's bloc is the swing vote between M14 and M8. He won't vote for it obviously neither will his MPs. It's all political theater by Berri and Aoun.
02 May 2012, 02:00
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And who said one should not take the embodiment of filth at his filthy word? WHO?
