Berri, Miqati Hope Parliamentary Subcommittee Would Achieve its Objective

Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati hoped that the parliamentary subcommittee that is set to resume its meetings in the new year would achieve their objective of reaching an agreement over a new electoral law, reported the daily An Nahar and As Safir on Saturday.

Berri told An Nahar: “It is necessary for the subcommittee to perform its required role ahead of referring its agreement to parliament, which will have the final say over the electoral law.”

For his part, Miqati told As Safir that the resumption of the subcommittee meetings is a positive development.

“We hope that its daily meetings will help relieve the insecurities of all political factions without exception,” he remarked.

The two officials had held talks on Friday over the subcommittee meetings, revealed As Safir.

The speaker had hoped during the talks that the members of the subcommittee intensify their meetings to tackle each of the proposed electoral laws.

Miqati said that it will address the positives and the negatives of each of the suggestions.

The draft law with the greatest approval will be backed by the government, he stated.

“I was never and will never stand as an obstacle in the process of reaching an agreement over a law that would bolster national unity in Lebanon,” stressed the premier.

The March 14-led opposition had announced its boycott of government-related work, including parliamentary meetings, in light of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan on October 19.

It accused Syria of being behind the crime and the government of covering up for the criminals.

It announced on Monday however that it would return to the meetings of the parliamentary subcommittee aimed at reaching an agreement over an electoral law.

The meetings are set to resume January 8.

The government proposed in August a parliamentary electoral law based on proportional representation and 13 districts.

It was met with the opposition's rejection, which deemed it as being tailored to the March 8 camp's interests.