Ghanem Meets Berri: Speaker Has the Final Say on Subcommittee Meetings
The parliamentary subcommittee dedicated to studying an electoral draft law concluded on Wednesday a first round of talks with sessions set to resume later during the day.
MP Robert Ghanem announced that the meetings will continue in the afternoon after his talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, during which he informed the speaker of the discussions at the subcommittee.
“Berri provided me with some of his ideas over the constitutional mechanism that should be adopted in order to ensure the continuation of the work of the subcommittee and the joint parliamentary committees,” he revealed.
He told reporters that the subcommittee will make its announcement over its findings and whether it will continue its meetings at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Ghanem said that the subcommittee's morning session addressed the electoral draft law that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
The subcommittee had initially met to discuss several draft laws including a bill proposed by the government, a March 14 draft law and the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal.
The government's bill adopted in August calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 districts based on a proportional representation system while the draft-law proposed by March 14 Christian MPs advocates 50 small districts based on a winner-takes-all system.
The Orthodox proposal which has garnered the support of the four major Christian parties – the Phalange and the Lebanese Forces from the opposition, and their rivals form the March 8 majority the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada - was severely criticized by the opposition Mustaqbal Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party of centrist MP Walid Jumblat and independent Christian personalities.
Their rejection of the proposal over what they said was widening sectarian differences among the Lebanese, paved way for a suggestion to hold the parliamentary elections based on the hybrid law.
The last elections were held based on the 1960 law, which adopts the qada as an electoral district and is based on a winner-takes-all system. But all factions have agreed to reject it.
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