March 8, 14 Camps Hold Separate Last-Minute Talks ahead of Resumption of Subcommittee Meeting
The March 8 and 14 camps held last-minute consultations over the past few days ahead of the resumption of the electoral subcommittee meetings on Monday in order to reach a final position on the electoral law dispute, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.
It said that the March 8 camp's Hizbullah, AMAL, and Free Patriotic Movement held contacts to coordinate their stances ahead of Monday's meeting.
The talks focused on the size of electoral districts and the distribution of seats in each of the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
Hizbullah MP Ali Fayyad, who is a member of the subcommittee, told An Nahar: “Great progress would be achieved if discussions over these issues are resolved.”
Last week, representatives of the March 8 and 14 camps at the subcommittee were given till Monday to hold consultations over a draft law proposal based on a combination of the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
Fayyad added: “Monday's talks should be able to yield results over the proposal on the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
“It remains unclear if the subcommittee will complete its discussions next week,” he noted.
“All sides are in agreement however that they refuse to waste time with talks without reaching a decisive outcome,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, An Nahar added that the March 14 camp's Mustaqbal Movement, Phalange Party, and Lebanese Forces held “intensive talks in the past 48 hours” over the proposal on the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
Member of the subcommittee LF MP George Adwan told the daily: “Next week's talks will be decisive as we will either succeed in reaching an agreement over a substitute to the Orthodox Gathering proposal or this proposal will be referred to parliament for a vote.”
“It is therefore necessary for an agreement to be reached over an alternative to the Orthodox law,” he explained.
The Orthodox Gathering proposal, which calls for each sect to elect its own lawmakers, has created divisions among various political factions in Lebanon.
A Christian four-party committee, comprised of the Phalange Party, FPM, Lebanese Forces, and Marada Movement, has advocated the law.
President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, the Mustaqbal Movement, and independent MPs of the March 14 camp all rejected the proposal.
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