The March 14 opposition alliance, which has severely criticized a new electoral draft-law, is gearing up to reject it in parliament and holding intense meetings to draft a new law in coordination with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, high-ranking opposition sources said.

The sources told An Nahar daily that the March 14 forces will not only work on toppling the draft-law, but will seek through small coordination committees along with centrist Jumblat to work on reaching common points that would form the nucleus of a new draft.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati considered on Thursday al-Mustaqbal movement’s reaction regarding the cabinet’s approval of the electoral draft law “unjustified” and “incomprehensible” given that it hasn’t been put into effect yet.

“The parliament will decide upon the issue and will adopt the decision that it considers adequate therefore there was no need for all this contrived fuss,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on a two-day official visit next Thursday to meet with senior Lebanese officials.

The FM will hold talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his counterpart Adnan Mansour.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Thursday that he is committed to proportional representation for the parliamentary electoral law, saying that the majority of the Lebanese supported this proposal.

He hoped that parliament would address the possibility of adopting small electoral districts during the elections “in order to garner the support of as many sides as possible.”

MP Sami Gemayel, Phalange Party’s Central Committee Coordinator, on Wednesday voiced rejection of the draft electoral law adopted by the cabinet, saying it was tailored to serve the electoral interests of the ruling coalition and stressing that “it will not pass in parliament.”

“We were clear in the Bkirki committee and we were working on two laws: the first, which we favor, was a law based on small electorates comprising two to three MPs, and we were putting the final touches, and the second option was the choice of proportional representation but with electorates other than those proposed by cabinet,” Gemayel said in an interview with MTV.

A man was killed and several people were wounded in a Syria-related clash between residents from two villages in northern Lebanon on Wednesday, officials told Agence France Presse.

"A man was killed and several injured when men from Sunni-majority Akroum village clashed with the majority Shiite village of Hourani," a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Wednesday that the new electoral law is better than the 1960 law, although it does not ensure proper representation during the parliamentary elections.

He said during a press conference: “The new law favors the March 8 camp to ensure that they are better represented.”

Speaker Nabih Berri hoped on Wednesday that positive talks would be held on the parliamentary electoral law that was approved by cabinet on Tuesday.

He said: “Discussions should set national interests above all else.”

The results of the secondary school official exams for the Humanities (LH) section and the Sociology and Economics (SE) section were announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Middle school official exam results, Brevet (BR), are set to be announced next week according to Lebanese districts.

Two of the relatives of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria on Wednesday managed to visit the abductees in the Aleppo town of Aazaz along with an LBCI TV crew.

Ali Zgheib’s son Adham and Awad Ibrahim’s brother Hussein appeared in the highly emotional video broadcast by LBCI, as tears and appeals dominated the scene.