Joint Parliamentary Committees Form Electoral Subcommittee

by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 October 2012, 12:37

The joint parliamentary committees formed on Thursday an electoral subcommittee to study the disputed issues concerning the electoral draft law despite sharp difference among the political foes over the matter.

The committee will be headed by deputy Speaker Farid Makari and will be represented on behalf of March 14 alliance by al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MPs Ahmed Fatfat and Serge Tor Sarkissian, Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel, and Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan.

The March 8 camp will be represented by Free Patriotic Movement's Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun, Tashnag Party MP Hagop Pakradounian, AMAL's Development and Liberation bloc Ali Bazzi, and Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc Ali Fayyad.

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Akram Shehayeb has also been included in the subcommittee, which is tasked with studying a suitable electoral system and size of districts and carrying out consultations among the rival political parties.

Makari told reporters after the joint parliamentary committees meeting at the parliament that its tenure will extend its work over three consecutive weeks.

The joint parliamentary committees have been recently discussing the new electoral draft law referred by the cabinet and two other proposals by the March 14 opposition and the Change and Reform bloc led by Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun.

The government approved in August a parliamentary electoral law based on proportional representation and 13 electoral districts, however, the opposition's proposal made by MPs Adwan, Sami Gemayel and Butros Harb supports the formation of 50 small-sized districts in a winner-takes-all system, while a plan suggested by the Change and Reform bloc allows every sect to elect its own MPs under a proportional representation system with Lebanon as a single district.

Media reports said on Wednesday that President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri agreed to adopt a draft law that combines the proportional representation and winner-takes-all systems as a settlement to the sharp differences among Lebanese political foes over the matter.

According to the report, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat have previously voiced their support to this proposal.