Cabinet to Hold 3rd Session after Disagreeing on Electoral Law’s Districts

The cabinet failed for the second day in a row on Tuesday to agree on an electoral law based on proportionality proposed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel over disagreements on the division of districts and the voting of Lebanese expatriates.

“Proportionality and the number of districts need more discussions,” Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said following a cabinet session held at Baabda palace.

A third session will be held at the summer residence of President Michel Suleiman in Beiteddine next Monday to continue discussions on the law, he told reporters.

Media reports said that during Monday’s session Charbel made four proposals of dividing Lebanon into 14, 13, 12 or 10 medium-sized districts.

But a March 8 majority minister told An Nahar daily that Amal, Hizbullah, Syrian Social National Party and Change and Reform ministers want to consider Lebanon a single district or divide it into five governorates.

Ministers loyal to President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati, who are centrists, have also voiced their support for such a division, the source said.

But the ministers representing National Struggle Front leader Walid Jumblat reiterated their rejection of proportionality, calling for the proposal of an all-inclusive reform plan and not limiting it to proportional representation.

As for the voting of expatriates, the ministers discussed a proposal of either setting a quota on electing 6 to 10 MPs or allow the Lebanese residing abroad to vote for the 128-member parliament.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour informed the cabinet however that Lebanese embassies and consulates will face difficulties in providing the necessary logistics for the voting process.

Meanwhile, informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that the Bkirki committee tasked with drafting a new electoral law has informed Charbel that it backs his proposal of proportionality based on small districts.

But a member of the committee, which includes the five major Christian political parties in Lebanon and was formed under the patronage of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, denied that such a contact has been made.

The committee prefers the majority representation based on the division of Lebanon into around 50 districts, whereby each district would have two to three seats, the committee member said.

The formula hasn’t yet been completed and would not be forwarded to al-Rahi before two weeks, he added.