Berri Mum on Next Step if MPs Fail to Find Common Electoral Ground
Speaker Nabih Berri shied away on Monday from revealing what steps he would take if a parliamentary subcommittee failed to agree on common ground on an electoral draft-law.
In remarks to local newspapers, Berri said he will study the minutes of the meetings of the subcommittee which is scheduled to convene on Monday afternoon.
“If I find common ground that could be built on and achieve a consensual draft-law then I will ask the members of the committee to hold more consultations and agree with the rest of parties” on an electoral draft-law, he said.
Asked what steps he would take if there wasn't enough consensus, Berri said: “The electoral draft-law will be referred to the joint parliamentary committees to study it. But if I don't find any common ground then I know what to do and how to behave.”
The speaker did not give further details but said the meetings of the subcommittee that kicked off last Tuesday haven't made any progress.
He called however for “patience,” saying “it is never too late to reach consensus.”
The Orthodox Gathering proposal, which calls for a single electoral district and allows each sect to vote for its own lawmakers under a system of proportional representation, has garnered the support of six out of nine members of the subcommittee.
The subcommittee finalized on Friday the discussion on a new electoral law to govern this year's parliamentary elections, its chairman MP Robert Ghanem said.
But it will meet on Monday in an attempt to find common ground among the different political parties, he said.
He warned however that lawmakers haven't yet reached consensus on any proposal but they discussed the prospects of increasing the number of lawmakers which currently stands at 128.
In addition to the Orthodox proposal, the MPs studied a March 14 draft-law that calls for dividing Lebanon into 50 districts based on a winner-takes-all system and a government bill referred to parliament which projects Lebanon as 13 districts in a proportional representation system.
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