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Jumblat Defends PSP Law Format, Says Other Drafts Harm Unity

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat defended on Tuesday a draft for an electoral law suggested by his party over the weekend, lashing out at a format of the so-called qualification system which he said harms national unity.

“If the PSP's format is considered a waste of time, then the sectarian qualification format harms national unity and al-Mustaqbal Movement,” said Jumblat on his Twitter page.

The PSP had on Saturday proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and winner-takes-all systems in an equal manner across 26 districts.

Jumblat's tweet came after Hizbullah's head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad was quoted as saying: “What is the criterion that allows candidates to run for the elections according to the proportional and winner-takes-all system proposed by the PSP?...It is a waste of time as well as procrastination.”

The “sectarian qualification” law format was suggested by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil where voters are not allowed to vote for candidates from other sects in the first round.

Bassil's law failed to meet approval and was dubbed as “sectarian” by many political parties.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and a single or several large electorates.

Druze leader Jumblat has rejected proportional representation, warning that it would "marginalize" his minority Druze community, whose presence is concentrated in the Aley and Chouf areas.

Amid reservations over proportional representation by other parties such as al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces, the political parties are mulling a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. The last polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law.

Source: Naharnet


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