Berri Sounds Alarm over Vacuum at Parliament
Efforts of various political parties have failed so far to agree on a new electoral law that will govern the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled in May, which has raised fears of vacuum at the parliament.
Speaker Nabih Berri sounded the alarm on Tuesday and stressed: “The country must not be driven towards vacuum, it is unacceptable, vacuum implies that the country is no more. The constitution has stipulated that Lebanon is a democratic republic with a parliamentary system. When the parliament falls and enters into vacuum, what will be left of the republic?”
“Everything happening around us is dangerous. Uncalculated steps will push our efforts down the drain,” Berri said from Tehran, where he takes part in the 6th conference for supporting the Palestinian people.
Berri's comments come in light of a deadline, February 21, to sign a decree calling the electoral bodies to begin preparations for the parliamentary polls. President Michel Aoun refused to sign the decree since it would mean running the elections based on the 1960 law.
Aoun has reiterated rejection to staging the polls under the current 1960 majoritarian law, or the extension of the parliament's term. He declared that he prefers vacuum over holding the polls under the 1960.
But, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has recently signed the decree ordering preparations for the upcoming polls, which Berri assured is part of the interior minister's duties.
He said: “The responsibility of the interior minister requires him to implement his duties. If he were to refrain from signing the decree calling the electoral bodies to start preparations for the polls under the current electoral law, he and the Prime minister will (by law) be held accountable.
“Signing the decree by PM Saad Hariri does not mean it would be directed against the President,” he pointed out, “but the president is also right because pushing the need to find a new law stems from his willingness to encourage political parties to approve a new law.”
The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate.
While al-Mustaqbal Movement has rejected that the electoral law be fully based on proportional representation, arguing that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds, Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat has totally rejected proportional representation, even within a hybrid law, warning that it would “marginalize” the minority Druze community.
Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, AMAL Movement, the FPM and the Lebanese Forces are meanwhile discussing several formats of a so-called hybrid law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.
Separately, the MP touched on cabinet discussions on the state's annual budget, he refused having it “financed at the citizens' expense. We cannot give the people with one hand and take away with the other.”
Source: Naharnet
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