Berri Calls for Alternative Electoral Law to Replace 1960, Orthodox Proposals

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed hope on Saturday that the political foes will soon reach common ground over a hybrid electoral law that would serve as an alternative for the 1960 and the so-called Orthodox Gathering laws.

“We should create an alternative electoral law that gathers the proportional and winners-take-all systems to replace the 1960 and Orthodox laws,” Berri's visitors quoted him as saying.

The visitors said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the rival parties have “enough” time to reach consensus.

“We have three-and-a-half months until the elections, which will be held on June 9. We have sufficient time to agree on a new electoral law if all foes were ready,” Berri said.

The speaker warned of forcing the March 8 alliance to agree on staging the elections according to the 1960 law that is based on winners-take-all system as it will prompt the coalition to insist on adoption of the Orthodox proposal.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati signed on Monday a decree calling on electoral bodies to hold the elections based on the 1960 law, which has been opposed by the rival March 8 and 14 camps.

On Friday, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel issued an order for nominees wishing to run in the parliamentary elections to submit their candidacies.

The nominees should submit their request at the Interior Ministry headquarters in Beirut between March 11 and April 10.

Berri told his visitors that he doesn't favor the adoption of the Orthodox draft-law but insisted that it is better than the 1960 law.

The so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal by the joint parliamentary committees has been adopted, but it drew a sharp debate among the opposition's factions and with foes.

The elections are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the proposal that divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

The draft-law has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and the March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has been also criticized by Suleiman and Miqati.