Report: Presidential Iftar to Accelerate Agreement on Electoral law
Countdown towards an agreement on a new voting system has reportedly begun, as attention turns to an official annual Ramadan banquet hosted by President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, after a 4-year break, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.
“Aoun has invited top Lebanese officials to an Iftar including Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Speaker Nabih Berri, Muslim and Christian religious authorities, former Presidents and PMs, ministers, deputies, military and security leaders, economic and social bodies and others,” well-informed sources told the daily.
“The President is expected to deliver a speech touching on the latest developments in the country, mainly the electoral law and the circumstances that accompany the discussions in addition to the latest developments in the region,” they added.
Meetings expected to be held by the country's top leaders on the sidelines of the Iftar are expected to ease an agreement on an electoral law.
Discussions took a positive turn on Tuesday, after a heated rhetoric between Aoun and Berri over who between the two of them has the jurisdiction to call for an extraordinary parliament session, sources said.
According to intermediaries who participated in the contacts between the two men, they said the parties have shown flexibility and a desire not to escalate rhetoric any further.
Berri and Aoun are “in agreement that what matters is to reach a new electoral law and stage the elections out of respect for the constitutional entitlements and the democratic system.”
A tripartite meeting between Aoun, Berri and Hariri today is expected to put things on the right track and focus on the electoral law issue, the sources said. They added that the fate of Wednesday's mediation is expected to be culminated during Thursday's presidential Iftar.
The last presidential Iftar was held during the term of President Michel Suleiman in 2013, after which the country was plagued with a presidential vacuum until Aoun's election.
Source: Naharnet
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/230739 |