New Ideas to 'Rescue 15-District Law' as Four-Party Meetings Resumed
“Positive indications” have surfaced regarding the possibility of reaching a new electoral law soon, topped by the resumption of the so-called four-party meetings, a media report said on Thursday.
The four-party meeting that was held overnight at the Foreign Ministry gathered Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, Speaker Nabih Berri's aide Ali Hassan Khalil, Hizbullah secretary-general's assistant Hussein al-Khalil and Prime Minister Saad Hariri's adviser Nader Hariri, al-Akhbar newspaper said.
“The four-party meeting was revived after negotiations reached a dead end during the Grand Serail meeting that was held on Tuesday,” the daily noted.
It quoted unnamed sources as saying that the disagreements during that meeting revolved around the issues of vote counting mechanisms and expat voting.
But “the four-party meeting witnessed the suggestion of new ideas aimed at rescuing the 15-district law, amid keenness from the conferees on rejecting any return to the 1960 law or vacuum,” al-Akhbar added.
“The Foreign Ministry meeting pumped some positivity into the relation between the FPM and AMAL Movement,” the daily said.
It added that “Bassil is still clinging to the issues he has raised in recent days, specifically his demand that any candidate should get at least 40% of votes from their own sect to become eligible to win a seat, amid total rejection from AMAL, Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement.”
The country's main political parties have recently agreed that the new electoral law should be fully based on proportional representation and 15 electoral districts but they are still wrangling over the electoral system's mechanisms and technicalities, especially those related to the representation of sects.
Lebanon has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has since extended its own term twice. The second extended term will expire on June 20.
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