Mashnouq: Ministry Ready to Organize Parliamentary Polls 'within Legal Deadlines'
Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced Friday that his ministry is ready to organize the 2017 parliamentary polls within “the deadlines stipulated by law.”
Mashnouq voiced his remarks during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard.
State-run National News Agency said Mashnouq and Richard stressed the need to form the new government quickly to enable Lebanon to confront the various security, political and economic challenges.
Mashnouq had recently warned that there is not much time left to pass a new electoral law while reassuring that the ministry is ready to organize the 2017 polls under the 1960 law.
Hizbullah and its allies have repeatedly called for passing an electoral law based on the proportional representation system but other parties, especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the suggestion, arguing that Hizbullah's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.
Al-Mustaqbal Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Hizbullah's ally Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.
The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.
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