Report: Christian Four-Party Panel Agrees to Adopt Orthodox Gathering Law

The Christian four-party committee on the electoral law on Sunday agreed to endorse the electoral system proposed by the so-called Orthodox Gathering, under which each sect would elect its own lawmakers, LBCI television reported.

The committee took its decision during a meeting held in Bkirki. The four-party panel comprises representatives from the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party and the Marada Movement.

LF MP George Adwan has revealed that a meeting was recently held between the LF, Mustaqbal Movement and Phalange Party to coordinate their stances ahead of the meeting of the electoral subcommittee on Tuesday.

He said: “The three parties will propose an electoral draft law based on 50 districts, but they will openly discuss all draft laws.”

“According to the contacts we held, the circumstances are appropriate to reach an agreement over a law other than the 1960 law,” he added.

“We may not reach this agreement during the subcommittee meeting, but I am certain that a new law will enjoy the support of the majority of lawmakers,” Adwan stated.

He stressed that the LF will do “all it can to get rid of the 1960 law,” noting that the whole purpose of the resumption of the subcommittee meetings is to push parliament to convene “as soon as possible for each camp to vote for the electoral draft law of its preference.”

“Each camp will then be made to assume its responsibilities once the vote is done,” he said.

“The people will soon be able to judge the officials based on their actions, not their intentions,” remarked the MP.

The electoral subcommittee is scheduled to convene on Tuesday after the March 14 opposition agreed to Speaker Nabih Berri's proposal of residing in a hotel near the parliament building in downtown Beirut, as a safety precaution.

The opposition alliance had announced following the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan on October 19 that they will be boycotting the national dialogue sessions and the government's work, awaiting Prime Minister Najib Miqati's resignation.

The government approved in August an electoral bill based on proportional representation and 13 districts, but it was met with the opposition's rejection, which deemed it as being tailored to the March 8 majority camp's interests.