Report: Parliament's Tenure to be Extended as Lawmakers Reach Standstill on Vote Law

Consultations over a new electoral law have reached a deadlock after as foes began discussing the possibility of extending the mandate of the current parliament to by at least eight months, local newspapers reported on Friday.

Informed sources told An Nahar newspapers that the March 8 and 14 alliances kicked off discussions over the extension of the parliament's tenure on Thursday away from media spotlight.

According to the report, talks focused on the timeframe of the extension as President Michel Suleiman would challenge such a decision unless the period was “reasonable.”

The newspaper said that the extension of the current parliament's tenure only requires adding an article to the 1960 electoral law, which is based on the winner-takes-all system.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported that the extension of the parliament's tenure is inevitable at this moment as there are sharp differences over the adoption of a new electoral law to replace the 1960 law.

Sources told the daily that whether the parliamentary blocs agree on an electoral law or not, the elections that are set to take place on June 16 will not take place on time.

The sources pointed out that the tenure of the parliament will be extended to a six-month renewable, eight months or for two years.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a parliamentary session on May 15 to allow more consultations over the matter.

The parliament's electoral subcommittee is set to hold two more sessions on Friday to discuss the hybrid proposals.

On Thursday, the Speaker scheduled another parliamentary session for Saturday, which is set to be decisive on whether to extent the parliament's tenure of hold the polls.