Kataeb Urges 'Burying' 1960 Electoral Law, Slams 'Absurd Conflict' over Govt.

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The Kataeb Party on Monday called for “burying” the 1960 electoral law under which the last parliamentary polls were held in 2009, as it slammed what it called the “absurd conflict” over cabinet shares.

“The party urgently calls for burying the 1960 law which undermines partnership and excludes large segments of the Lebanese,” said Kataeb in a statement issued after its political bureau's weekly meeting.

It accordingly called for devising a new electoral law that “ensures correct and fair representation.”

Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has recently warned that there is not much time left to pass a new law while reassuring that the ministry is ready to organize the 2017 polls under the 1960 law.

Hizbullah and its allies have repeatedly called for passing an electoral law based on the proportional representation system but other parties, especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the suggestion, arguing that Hizbullah's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.

Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Hizbullah's ally Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.

The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.

Separately, Kataeb blasted what it called “the absurd conflict over ministerial shares and portfolios” and the classification of ministries as “sovereign, services-related, important and secondary.”

“The party calls for rising above this polarization that is insulting to logic and the dignity of the Lebanese and for speeding up the formation of a cabinet whose priorities should be the approval of an electoral law and a state budget in addition to the economic situations,” Kataeb added.

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