Speaker Insists on Holding Parliamentary Session on May 15, Urges MPs to Act Responsibly
Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Monday that he will not call for a parliamentary session ahead of May 15 to discuss the electoral law, pointing out that lawmakers will have to act responsibly.
“I advise different groups not to waste their time... I will not call for a session to end the dispute over the electoral law ahead of the one set on May 15,” Berri told several newspapers published Monday.
He noted that he will keep on exerting efforts to achieve consensus over a common law.
The speaker warned MPs that the session set on May 15 will remain open until they reach common ground whether through consensus or by the parliamentary majority.
“We can extend the term of the parliament technically for few months until the Interior Ministry finishes preparations for the polls based on the law we adopt,” Berri stated.
However, newspapers quoted him as saying that if lawmakers failed to agree on an electoral law then the parliament’s tenure will automatically be extended.
“The time-frame for the extension is decided by the parliament itself. It could be six months, two years or even four years, it all depends on the parliament,” the AMAL leader added.
Berri had granted political blocs until May 15 to reach an agreement over a new electoral law before calling parliament to session to vote on the Orthodox Gathering proposal that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees.
President Michel Suleiman, caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front, the Mustaqbal Movement, and independent March 14 MPs have rejected the law, saying that it deepens sectarian divisions in Lebanon.
The Orthodox Gathering law divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.
The political powers have so far failed to reach an agreement on an alternative law, threatening to postpone the parliamentary elections that are scheduled for June 16.
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