Berri Proposes Adoption of Government's 13-District Draft-Law
Speaker Nabih Berri advocated on Wednesday the adoption of an electoral draft-law referred by the government to the parliament after al-Mustaqbal made a new proposal that its critics said limited the representation of Christians in the legislature.
LBCI TV said that Berri referred al-Mustaqbal's draft-law to the government to study it pending its referral to the joint parliamentary committees.
The new draft-law calls for dividing Lebanon into 37 small districts based on a winner-takes-all system and the creation of a senate to allegedly allay Christian concerns over representation.
It is based on a four-point initiative announced last week by al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri.
The government’s proposal calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 districts based on a proportional representation system.
Asked to comment on claims by al-Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat that the bloc's draft-law allows Christians to elect 48 MPs, Berri told several newspapers: “Why won't we go back to the government's proposal that gives Christians the opportunity to elect 48-52 lawmakers?”
The proposal “is closer to the Taef accord in its division of districts,” he said.
Fatfat made his claim on Tuesday after his rival MP Alain Aoun from the Change and Reform bloc criticized al-Mustaqbal's draft-law for allegedly allowing only 36-38 Christians MPs to be elected by Christians.
On the creation of a senate, Berri said a second al-Mustaqbal draft-law calling for amending article 22 in the constitution cannot be discussed by the parliament before March 19, the date the first round of legislative sessions begins.
The bloc called for the amendment to separate the election of the first parliament on a non-sectarian basis from the establishment of a senate in which all spiritual families are represented.
The speaker was also asked about a request to lift the parliamentary immunity off MP Butros Harb.
He told the newspapers that he was studying the request made by General Prosecutor Hatem Madi over remarks Harb made on the judiciary and President Michel Suleiman after Mahmoud Hayek, a Hizbullah member, was charged with the attempt on his life.
Harb challenged Madi on Tuesday, saying he had asked Berri to hold a parliamentary session to vote on lifting his immunity.
But the speaker said Wednesday that he would personally decide whether to refer such a request to parliament's bureau and the justice committee, which would later resort to voting if necessary.
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