Berri Says Electoral Subcommittee Faces 'Crucial' Week
Speaker Nabih Berri described this week “crucial” as rival MPs from the March 8 majority alliance and the March 14 opposition coalition resumed their discussions on an electoral draft-law.
In remarks to As Safir daily published Monday, Berri said: “This week will be crucial in terms of the work of the parliamentary electoral subcommittee.”
“If I feel that some positive developments emerge from its discussions, then I will extend the mission of the subcommittee,” the speaker said, but he warned that he would refer the proposed electoral draft-laws to the joint parliamentary committees if the MPs failed in finding common ground.
The subcommittee took a break till Monday after a proposal was made to combine the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems in the electoral draft-law.
The suggestion came following a criticism by the opposition's al-Mustaqbal movement, the centrist Progressive Socialist Party of MP Walid Jumblat and March 14 independent Christian politicians of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal that envisages a single district and calls for each sect to vote for its own MPs in a proportional system.
The Orthodox proposal had garnered the support of the four major Christian parties – the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada movement from the March 8 majority, and the opposition's Phalange party and the Lebanese Forces.
Two other proposals include a government bill that divides Lebanon into 13 districts based on a proportional representation system and a draft-law suggested by the March 14 Christian parties that seeks to divide Lebanon into 50 small-sized districts based on a winner-takes-all system.
Asked by As Safir whether the discussion of the draft-laws by the joint committees would lead to a parliamentary session to settle the issue, Berri said an electoral draft-law would be eventually adopted by the legislature.
“But before that, we should try our best to agree on a consensual law,” he said, adding “this requires that each side make a step forward toward the other comp to meet halfway.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/69103 |