Report: Miqati Postpones Romania Visit over Vote Law Controversy
Prime Minister Najib Miqati reportedly postponed a trip to Romania over the security tension in Lebanon and the large-scale consultations between rival parties to agree on an electoral draft-law.
An Nahar newspaper said Sunday that Miqati postponed his official visit to Bucharest that was set to be made on March 8.
But no new date was set for the trip, the daily said.
Miqati reiterated on Saturday his rejection of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, which divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own lawmakers under a proportional representation system.
“We must achieve real representation for all Lebanese sects by reaching an agreement on an electoral law that does not harm coexistence,” Miqati said via twitter.
He hailed the will of “most” of the Lebanese to coexist under one nation, saying: “It would be unfair to deprive them from their right by adopting an electoral law such as the Orthodox proposal.”
“The obvious purpose behind the Orthodox proposal is to give all sects their rights, but it was really found to hit the Lebanese unity deeply and to split the spiritual families,” Miqati added.
President Michel Suleiman has also severely criticized it and vowed to challenge it before the Constitutional Council if parliament adopted it.
The proposal has been approved by the joint parliamentary committees, a final step before it is referred to the legislature for adoption.
But Speaker Nabih Berri has said he would not immediately call for a general assembly session to pave way for the success of the negotiations between the rival parties to reach consensus on a draft-law that appeases all sides.
The opposition al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs are among the Orthodox proposal's critics.
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