Berri: Lebanon Should Begin Preparations for New Electoral Law
Head of Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, Speaker Nabih Berri said Lebanon should start preparations for a new parliamentary electoral law, noting that his bloc prepared a “law initiative” in that regard, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.
“The current electoral law created great imbalance and an overwhelming complaint from everyone," said Berri, “experience has shown it to be a “mini Orthodox” law. We must therefore take advantage of the lessons that the elections have given.'
"We are working with a great deal of care to prepare a modern law that is based on Lebanon's relative size and on the aspirations of the Lebanese who wish to be represented fairly and correctly,” Berri told the daily.
The Speaker said his bloc has prepared a law initiative that sees Lebanon as one constituency on the basis of proportionality.
In 2018, Lebanon held its legislative elections based on a new electoral law adopted in 2017 that provides a proportional representation system for the first time in the history of the country.
On the timing of his call noting that Lebanon held its elections only a year ago, Berri said: “We don’t want to be short of time.”
The so-called Orthodox electoral law was proposed in 2012 by former Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli. It calls for each sect to elect its own MPs within the country as a single district. Criticisms said it would aggravate sectarian divisions in the country.
Source: Naharnet
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