Activists Rally in Beirut to Slam Approval of Orthodox Vote Law
A group of civil society activists staged a sit-in on Tuesday near the parliament in downtown Beirut to condemn the preliminary approval of a draft electoral law they believe will aggravate the sectarian tensions in Lebanon.
The youth organization of the Democratic Renewal Movement and the movement's secretary Antoine Haddad took part in the protest. Haddad warned that the Orthodox Gathering's electoral proposal -- under which each sect would elect its own representatives -- “would drag us several centuries into the past and strip Lebanese citizens of their right to vote for a candidate who doesn't belong to their own sect.”
Activist Nadine Mouawwad said: “We were surprised by the parliamentary committees' decision concerning the electoral law and we consider all proposals and discussions illegitimate, especially that they have added six parliamentary seats while claiming that they cannot fund the new wage scale.”
“They approved the Orthodox proposal which creates discrimination among citizens and they want us to vote like sheep. We are against this proposal and we demand a civil state that can achieve the aspirations of all the Lebanese,” Mouawwad added.
Protesters briefly blocked the road outside the building of Beirut Municipality.
Meanwhile, the Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform issued a sharp-toned statement titled “The Orthodox Gathering Proposal Will Not Pass.”
“Today, Lebanon was dragged into the circle of danger and the threat of partitioning started to loom on the horizon, after the Lebanese went through 15 years of civil war,” the statement said.
And as it described the proposal as the “biggest farce,” the statement said “the insolence of several political forces has reached the extent of blowing up the principle of coexistence, the unified state and the principles of national partnership for the purpose of securing a number of extra parliamentary seats.”
“Passing this law in parliament would be a dangerous step that has repercussions on Lebanon's stability and civil peace, and should this law be put to a vote in parliament, all the civil, political and syndical forces that reject it will escalate protests to prevent taking the country into partitioning or a new civil war,” it added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the joint parliamentary committees approved the Orthodox Gathering proposal, amid a walkout by the lawmakers of al-Mustaqbal bloc, the National Struggle Front and some independent March 14 MPs.
The proposal calls for dividing Lebanon into a single electoral district and allows each sect to vote for its own lawmakers under a proportional representation system.
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