Jumblat Stresses Cooperation with Berri to Guard National Unity

Centrist Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is keen to maintain the ties with Speaker Nabih Berri to safeguard the national unity, calling on the political foes to kick off consultations to form the new cabinet.

“My stance will always remain in harmony with Berri over the name of the nominee to head the government and maintaining the national unity,” Jumblat said in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, Jumblat's caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour held a telephone conversation on Tuesday night with Berri's caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.

The two officials stressed on the importance of consultations and coordination amid the critical situation the country is passing through.

Consultations to form a new cabinet are expected to kick off once President Michel Suleiman returns from Doha where he is attending the Arab Summit after Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced the resignation of his government on Friday.

For his part, Berri told As Safir that he is keen to coordinate with Jumblat, describing the ties between them as the “arch safeguarding the country.”

Asked about the speaker's efforts to call for a parliamentary session during the first week of April, Jumblat said that his National Struggle Front bloc will not attend discussions over the Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law.

“The proposal is totally rejected by us,” the Druze leader reiterated.

A consensus over an electoral law has yet to be reached after the Orthodox Gathering's proposal that considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system, was opposed by Suleiman, Miqati, al-Mustaqbal bloc, the PSP, and the independent Christian MPs of the March 14 opposition, saying it harms the social fabric and increases sectarian tension.

Centrist sources told An Nahar newspaper that Berri vowed not to put the Orthodox proposal on the agenda of the upcoming parliamentary session as long as the Sunnis and Druze reject it.

“The 1960 law will not be canceled unless a new electoral proposal is adopted,” the sources said.

They noted that “several obstacles hinder the session.”

Suleiman and Miqati have signed a decree that sets the elections on June 9 based on the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 polls over the lack of agreement between the bickering parliamentary blocs.

Their call have drawn the ire of the March 8 majority coalition, which has totally rejected the law.

Jumblat pointed out that his bloc will participate in discussions on extending the term of security leaders.

Miqati's resignation came in light of sharp differences among ministers on the extension of the term of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and the establishment of the authority that would oversee the elections.