Report: Democratic Gathering Bloc Meets Berri

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A Democratic Gathering bloc delegation, of MP Walid Jumblat, visited Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday where talks focused on the controversial election law that will govern the upcoming parliamentary polls, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

The bloc's visit is part of several it plans to pay to officials, the most recent was a meeting with President Michel Aoun who had earlier expressed support for a proportional representation system.

“We are part of any national solution. We demand that everyone is included in the standards studied for proper representation,” said the delegation during their meeting with the Speaker, adding that Berri showed an understanding about their position.

The delegation has fears of endorsing proportional representation system or a hybrid law system, which Jumblat has recently renounced.

Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party believes that a law fully based on proportional representation would marginalize the minority Druze community, whose presence is concentrated in the Chouf and Aley districts.

The PSP's concerns has pushed the party to renounce a law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system that it had drafted together with al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces.

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.

SourceNaharnet
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