Shehayyeb Says Only 'Political Decision' Sets Electoral System
National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Shehayyeb called for a political decision on the type of electoral system the country would adopt in the 2013 polls, saying meetings of the parliamentary electoral subcommittee would be useless.
“There should be a political decision to set the (electoral) system based on which the next elections would be held,” Shehayyeb told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).
He said the meetings of the parliamentary subcommittee will not lead to any result given that if agreement is reached on the type of system and on the size and number of districts, then the plan would be referred to the joint committees which the March 14 opposition is boycotting.
“We will go back to the same problem when the plan is referred to the joint committee meetings in which both the interior and justice ministers take part,” he said.
The March 14 alliance has boycotted the government and all parliamentary activity linked to it. However, it made concessions by announcing earlier this month that it would end its boycott of the parliamentary subcommittee to agree on an electoral law ahead of the 2013 polls.
But the subcommittee's March 14 members haven't responded yet to a proposal made by Speaker Nabih Berri to stay at a hotel near parliament and attend the meetings in the legislature.
The MPs have expressed fears to head to parliament after many of them received death threats.
Shehayyeb reiterated the rejection of the Progressive Socialist Party of MP Walid Jumblat to adopt a parliamentary law based on proportionality, saying the winner-takes-all system of the 1960 law should be adopted with certain amendments during the elections next year.
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