Aoun Says Proportional Representation Draft Law Will Pass 'Eventually'
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Saturday that the stances adopted by the cabinet provided the country with the necessary stability, noting that the new electoral law based on proportional representation will be approved “ultimately.”
“We fear if Syria lost then extremism and Takfiri thinking will widely spread, such as in northern Lebanon. We can't accept these abnormal cases on our land and that threaten our existence,” Aoun said during a tour in the towns of Jbeil.
He pointed out that the first component to defend the nation and safeguard it is the national unity, which “can be carried out only if we are open to others who are different.”
Aoun noted that Jbeil is deprived from development projects as some “members in the cabinet are obstructing them.”
Concerning the new controversial electoral law, the FPM leader said that a new electoral law based on proportional representation “will be approved eventually.”
“They (the March 14 alliance) have no strong argument to reject it. They will lose the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections even if we adopted the 1960 electoral law,” Aoun said.
He stressed that change and reform are two necessary elements in Lebanon.
Rival political parties in Lebanon are deeply divided over the electoral law as the Bkirki committee tasked with studying the best representation of Christians in the 2013 parliamentary elections agreed to prepare a study on three draft-laws proposed to the parliament after wrangling between the March 8 majority and March 14 coalition MPs over the conflicting proposals.
The government's draft-law calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 medium-sized districts based on proportionality while the opposition's proposal made by MPs George Adwan, Sami Gemayel and Butros Harb supports the formation of 50 small-sized districts in a winner-takes-all system while a plan suggested by Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc that would allow every sect to elect its own MPs under a proportional representation system with Lebanon as a single district.
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