Report: Majority Believes Proportional Electoral Law Will Not Be Approved at Parliament

The 1960 parliamentary electoral law will likely be adopted should proportional representation be rejected by parliament, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

A prominent political source from the majority told the daily that the majority leaderships “have become convinced that the adoption of proportional representation at parliament or cabinet will be difficult because of National Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblat’s adamant rejection of it.”

It said that the majority will then have to resort to the amended 1960 electoral law that was adopted in the 2009 parliamentary elections, which enjoyed the agreement of the rival March 8 and 14 camps.

The law allowed the merger of some districts in the South and Bekaa, as well as a new division of Beirut.

The source said that the law could be amended once again in order to “appease some Christian parties.”

The 2013 elections could also witness the lowering of the voting age to 18 and allowing expatriates from taking part in the vote, it added.

The electoral law based on proportionality includes the options of considering Lebanon a single electoral district on the basis of proportionality, or maintaining the current electoral district division with the possibility of merging the small districts in one on the basis of merging the majority election and the proportional representation systems.

Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi recently stated that the debate over the electoral law aims at “getting rid of Jumblat.”

He said that the adoption of a new law for the 2013 parliamentary elections based on proportionality indicates that the political powers can’t “stand” Jumblat anymore and want to deprive him of his seat in parliament.

The MPs’ supporters had stated that proportional representation seeks to limit the National Struggle Front leader’s political weight.

Speaker Nabih Berri has continuously voiced his support for adopting an electoral law based on proportionality as Interior Minister Marwan Charbel formulated a proposal that is still being discussed by President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and several other officials.