Miqati's Attendance of Orthodox Vote Law Parliamentary Session Unclear

Officials close to Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed that he would not support the Orthodox Gathering proposal even if he has to boycott a parliamentary session to approve it.

The sources made their remarks to An Nahar newspaper published on Friday after reports that Miqati would attend any session that Speaker Nabih Berri calls for to adopt an electoral draft-law, including the Orthodox proposal.

The reports said that the prime minister's attendance of the assembly would come following a request made by Hizbullah to give state institutions more impetus.

Miqati said Thursday that he had agreed with President Michel Suleiman to sign a decree calling on voters to participate in the polls.

He was quoted as saying that the 1960 law is so far in force and he is responsible for implementing it.

Suleiman and Miqati have criticized the Orthodox proposal which calls for a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

The proposal has been also rejected by the opposition al-Mustaqbal movement, the Progressive Socialist Party of Walid Jumblat and the March 14 opposition's independent Christian MPs.

The 1960 law, which governed the 2009 elections with some amendments, adopts the qada as an electoral district and is based on a winner-takes-all system.

However, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel warned in remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the political differences between the parties would lead to a deteriorating security situation.

“All political parties and not just the sides represented in the government should meet and agree on steering Lebanon clear of the consequences of their differences,” he said.