Al-Rahi Calls for Electoral Law that Does Not Fuel Sectarianism
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Sunday that officials would succeed in reaching an agreement over a parliamentary electoral law that “revives real democracy” in Lebanon.
He therefore called on officials to reach an agreement over an electoral law that “does not fuel sectarianism.”
Furthermore, the patriarch stressed during his Sunday sermon that the new electoral law should also grant equality between Muslims and Christians.
“Citizens have the right to elect their representatives at parliament without the criteria being imposed on them by the people in power,” al-Rahi said.
“Each side is seeking to protect Lebanon's Christians and Muslims and therefore bolster coexistence in the country,” he noted.
The Orthodox Gathering proposal, which calls for each sect to elect its own lawmakers, has created divisions among various political factions in Lebanon.
A Christian four-party committee, comprised of the Phalange Party, FPM, Lebanese Forces, and Marada Movement, has advocated the law.
President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, the Mustaqbal Movement, and independent MPs of the March 14 camp all rejected the proposal, saying it fuels sectarianism.
On the flow of Syrian refugees into Lebanon, al-Rahi stated: “Hosting them is a humanitarian obligation.”
“The Lebanese state should however control who enters Lebanon in order to prevent the entry of gunmen and other forces seeking to create strife,” he added.
“Lebanon should not be made to support more than it can in the refugee file,” declared the patriarch.
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