Geagea Says Electoral Law Discussions Are Serious this Time
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed hope that the rival lawmakers would end up agreeing on a new electoral law as a parliamentary committee kick off on Monday talks on the controversial issue.
“The meeting of the committee this time is not just aimed at holding discussions. The evidence to that is the one-month deadline for consensus,” said Geagea.
Speaker Nabih Berri, who headed the meeting of the committee, has said he would give the rival MPs one month to agree on a new law or else he would hold parliamentary sessions to discuss several electoral draft-laws.
Geagea said “the roadmap is very clear and the dates are specified. They should end with (a deal) on a new electoral law,” which he described as a “national achievement.”
An Nahar said said al-Mustaqbal movement, the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party will vote for a law which they have proposed. It combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
Geagea said the three parties will “make their stances clear even if Berri puts another draft-law for discussion first.”
He stressed that the LF will not back off from its proposal, which guarantees the best representation possible for Christians.
Earlier this month, Lebanese lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to extend their mandate by another two years and seven months, skipping scheduled elections for the second consecutive time.
The vote gave parliament eight full years in power— double its allowed mandate — to June 2017. Ninety-five lawmakers among those who showed up voted in favor of the extension, while two opposed.
The pro-extension MPs claimed they needed to extend their own term in office because Lebanon's security situation is too dire to allow holding elections amid neighboring Syria's civil war.
They also said extending parliament's mandate will prevent another power vacuum from forming in a country already divided along sectarian and regional lines.
The first time the legislature extended its mandate was in May 2013 after the rival MPs failed to agree on a new electoral law.
Most blocs have announced their rejection to the 1960 law that is based on a winner-takes-all system. It was used in the 2009 elections.
But they have made separate proposals, a sign that the parliamentary sessions would witness heavy debate among the lawmakers if the committee fails to reach consensus within a month.
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