A controversial electricity draft law will be on the cabinet’s agenda next week after the government once again failed to agree on how the allocation of $1.2 billion to raise electricity production by 700 megawatts would be made.

The dispute over the draft law has led to divisions in the ranks of the government, after ministers representing Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun threatened to resign if the cabinet failed to approve the proposal.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat believes that adopting proportional representation for the parliamentary elections will be employed politically by the rival political camps given the sharp divide in the country, prominent parliamentary sources told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat Wednesday.

They stressed that the MP supports reforming the electoral law.

The cabinet is expected to hold a tense session on Thursday amid threats by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to withdraw his ministers from the government over a controversial electricity bill.

Cabinet ministers are scheduled to tackle 50 items on the agenda plus the electricity draft law that was proposed by Aoun at parliament and which faced stiff opposition from March 14 lawmakers and criticism from some of his allies.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr stressed Cairo’s keenness on political stability in Lebanon and called for the participation of all political parties in Lebanese decision-making.

Following talks with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Tuesday, Amr said that “the only way to achieve stability is to guarantee the participation of all political players in the governing structure in Lebanon based on their real representation.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Tuesday that he is committed to serving Lebanon, but “we will not remain in a government that lacks an agenda.”

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “They can make do without us as we have other issues, such as the Resistance, that we are committed to.”

Lebanese politicians seem to be heading towards a new showdown over the issue of proportional representation in the 2013 parliamentary elections after Druze leader Walid Jumblat called for keeping the current electoral system.

During an Iftar held in the Shouf over the weekend, Jumblat said: “It would be better to postpone discussions of proportionality and keep the status quo to preserve diversity and plurality.”

The government faces the biggest test ever of bridging the gap among its different members this week after a dispute erupted over a draft law aimed at granting Energy Minister Jebran Bassil $1.2 billion to build plants to produce 700 Megawatts of electricity.

The cabinet meets at President Michel Suleiman’s summer residence in Beiteddine on Thursday amid threats by MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement to withdraw its ministers from the government over accusations that Premier Najib Miqati contributed to blocking the draft law proposed by Aoun in parliament.

Hizbullah has mediated with the Free Patriotic Movement to prevent an escalation in the dispute over the electricity draft law proposed by FPM chief Michel Aoun, March 8 sources have told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

The dispute began when Aoun threatened to pull his ministers from the cabinet after opposition MPs and lawmakers allied with him rejected the draft law that allows Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is Aoun’s son-in-law, to spend $1.2 billion on building power plants without referring to the cabinet.

Premier Najib Miqati’s sources have expressed surprise at the Free Patriotic Movement’s campaign against him after a draft law proposed by FPM chief Michel Aoun on providing $1.2 billion to the energy minister to build power plants drew criticism from lawmakers.

The sources expressed surprise at the campaign saying that Miqati has supported the project but has only conditioned the introduction of measures that would guarantee transparency in the spending of the $1.2 billion which are aimed at building power plants that would generate 700 Megawatts of electricity.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi has denied that he discussed with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the national dialogue which he described as a “rubber band.”

Discussions focused on “bilateral relations, the complicated situation in Lebanon and the developments in Syria,” Aridi told An Nahar daily about his talks with Nasrallah on Saturday.