Geagea Says New Election Law Must Meet PSP Approval

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea emphasized on Tuesday that a parliamentary electoral law that does not meet the approval of the Progressive Socialist Party will not be accepted.

“We will not accept an electoral law that does not meet the approval of the PSP,” said Geagea in a tweet.

Geagea's comments came after PSP chief MP Walid Jumblat took to twitter and criticized, without naming, in a series of comments attempts to agree on proportional representation law.

Lebanon's political parties are bickering over amending the current election law which divides seats among the different religious sects.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party'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. 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.

The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.