Sami Gemayel Urges Vote on New Electoral Law: Solution to Pay Raise in Privatizing Electricity
Kataeb bloc MP Sami Gemayel called on Wednesday for voting on a new electoral law before electing a news president, considering also that the solution to funding the new wage scale lies in privatizing the electricity sector.
"There is an issue that we have to deal with as MPs, and which has been ignored by everyone,” Gemayel remarked at a press conference.
"And this issue concerns agreeing on a new electoral law before falling into the same trap again,” he clarified.
"We warn everyone that if voting on a new electoral law does not take place before the vote on a new president, we will hence be jeopardizing democracy.”
He continued: “We urge Speaker (Nabih) Berri to put all suggested drafts on the parliament's agenda before calling for a session to elect a new president, and this is to assure that we are on schedule and respecting constitutional and legal deadlines.”
“And we will then submit our nominations for parliamentary elections based on the law that gathers the majority of support on August 18,” the Kataeb MP added.
“We have to agree on a modern electoral law, or else we will hold the polls based on an old one.”
Gemayel noted that agreeing on such a law is not a requirement for calling for a parliamentary session.
“The constitution stipulates that the electoral law is considered a regular law, and hence it requires the votes of a simple majority,” he pointed out.
Separately, the young MP addressed the Syndicate Coordination Committee's “rightful demands” of approving the contentious new wage scale, calling for the privatization of the electricity sector as a solution for funding the pay raise.
"If we take a look at the Budget, we can notice that the state spends money on three issues; the public debt, the salaries of public employees and which amount to huge sums, and paying the deficit in the electricity sector which is estimated at two billion dollars,” Gemayel explained.
“We have to deal with Lebanon's electricity problem as this is the only solution if we wanted to act seriously and avoid dragging the country into a huge crisis,” he stressed, calling for the privatization of the electricity sector.
He then added that the second solution to the new wage scale's “problem” lies in paying customs fees' equally.
He considered that addressing the revenues issue is happening in “a random manner,” rejecting making people “pay for the pay raise through taxation.”
“We cannot ask public employees not to accept bribes and to commit to the working hours unless their salaries are sufficient. We are today stressing on their rightful demands and we hope this issue is dealt with responsibly,” he said.
S.D.B.
M.T.
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