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Bassil: Agreement with Jumblat Fails, Hybrid Law Hasn't Been Dropped

Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil clarified that an agreement on an electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary polls has not been reached as yet with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

“A hybrid electoral law was put for discussion six months ago, and they (PSP) have agreed on it six months ago. But last week and in a matter of two days they changed their mind,” Bassil told the daily in an interview.

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Saudi Minister in Beirut for Talks with Top Officials

Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan arrived in Beirut on Sunday on an official visit to Lebanon, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

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Syrians in Lebanon Resume Travel to U.S. as Ban Blocked

Syrian nationals began flying out of Beirut on Sunday en route to the United States after a U.S. court placed a temporary block on President Donald Trump's contentious travel ban.

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Kanaan: No One Can Push Us to Endorse 1960 Law or Extension

Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan stressed Sunday that “no one” will be able to push the Free Patriotic Movement to accept parliamentary polls under the controversial 1960 electoral law or a new extension of the parliament's term, hours after Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat called for elections under an “amended” version of the 1960 law.

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Fayyad: Ideal Solution is Law Fully Based on Proportional Representation, Large Electorates

Hizbullah MP Ali Fayyad announced Sunday that “the ideal, simplest and least complicated solution” for approving a new electoral law would be endorsing an electoral system fully based on proportional representation in large electoral districts.

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Jumblat Suggests 'Revising 1960 Electoral Law' or 'Implementing Taef Accord'

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat openly called Sunday for holding the parliamentary polls under a “revised” version of the controversial 1960 electoral law, rejecting all calls for proportional representation.

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Report: Parties Still Debating Hybrid Electoral Law after Bassil's Format Rejected

Representatives of the Free Patriotic Movement, al-Mustaqbal Movement, Hizbullah and AMAL Movement have insisted that their four-party committee is still discussing several formats of a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

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PSP Sources: FPM Wants to Eliminate 'Historic Pro-Jumblat Christian Representation'

The Free Patriotic Movement alliance with the Lebanese Forces is targeted against “Christian leaders such as Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel, Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, MP Butros Harb and other independent Christians,” Progressive Socialist Party sources have said.

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Palestinian Detained over Ties to Costa Would-Be Bomber

The Lebanese army intelligence units arrested in south Lebanon , a Palestinian man over suspicion of having ties to a would-be suicide attacker who attempted to carry out a terror operation in Beirut's upscale Hamra neighborhood earlier this year, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

The detainee identified as Hassan Majdi Obeid was arrested in al-Zahrani's Sarafand area, NNA added.

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Harb Says a Referendum is a Way to Evade the Elections

MP Boutros Harb stated that a suggestion made by President Michel Aoun to introduce a referendum shall political parties fail to agree on a new electoral law, is a “method of circumventing the polls.”

“Nothing prevents the parliament from approving a draft referendum for the polls as suggested by President Aoun, but the idea of a referendum is a way of circumventing the elections,” Harb said in an interview with VDL (93.3).

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