Speaker Says Battle over Electoral Draft Law to Control Presidential Post in 2014

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed belief on Tuesday that the rival political parties in Lebanon are gearing up for the 2014 presidential elections.

“The battle over the 2013 electoral draft law is linked to the presidential elections... It reveals the votes of the newly elected MPs,” Berri said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper.

He expected the bickering March 8 alliance and opposition led by the March 14 camp to continue their campaigns regarding the 2013 electoral draft law as they want their presidential candidate to reach the post.

Asked about the electoral draft law which was adopted by the cabinet, Berri refused to state his final opinion in the matter, however, he rejected “the adoption of the 1960 electoral law.”

The new electoral draft-law, which was approved by the cabinet in August, is based on proportional representation and divides Lebanon to 13 districts in the 2013 parliamentary elections although it is not likely to be approved once referred to the parliament as it was criticized by the opposition and Walid Jumblat's centrist Progressive Socialist Party.

“I call for the adoption of the rescue and mercy triangle, which is the adoption of an electoral law based on proportional presentation, capable of producing a parliament for the nation and not a sectarian assembly,” the speaker pointed out.

Concerning the attempted assassination of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the weekend, Berri considered it as a “dangerous development.”

He noted that the army should assume controlling the security situation in the Bekaa after it began a crackdown on security violators in Beirut's southern suburbs and the northern city of Tripoli.

“If we couldn't maintain the security situation in the country, investments will be sabotaged,” Berri told the daily.

The army recently arrested several culprits during raids on Beirut's southern suburbs and other areas across the country after it witnessed a kidnapping spree of several businessmen and numerous bank robberies.

On the developments in Syria, the speaker said the Lebanese state's decision to disassociate itself from the turmoil in the neighboring country proved to be the best.