Berri Criticizes Cabinet for Not Holding onto its Electoral Draft-Law

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized the government on Tuesday for neglecting an electoral draft-law that it approved in August, saying it should withdraw the bill from parliament if it no longer backs it.

In an interview with al-Joumhouria newspaper, Berri said the government's negligence was a “sign that it was no longer holding onto the electoral law that it approved and referred to parliament for adoption.”

The speaker told the daily that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel's recent announcement that he had his own proposal to make if parliament failed to approve an elections law, “was illogical because the minister is overpassing the plan of the government which he belongs to.”

“If they have changed their minds on the law that they have drafted, then they should recall it from parliament,” he said.

Charbel said in an interview on Tuesday that the elections would be held based on the 1960 law if no agreement was reached on a new law.

He also made several suggestions last week including allowing the country's Christians and Muslims to elect 64 MPs each.

He said another proposal lies in adopting a law that would grant voters the ability to choose 10 candidates in a two-stage electoral process that would first allow electorates to select members of their districts and then add the names of candidates from other districts.

Such a law would guarantee the participation of all Lebanese in choosing lawmakers from all over Lebanon, the minister added.

Charbel's proposal came after the government's draft-law, which calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 districts based on proportional representation, hit a deadlock in parliament following the refusal of most of the March 14 opposition blocs to adopt it.

Several other suggestions were made by different parliamentary blocs, but discussions on the draft-laws reached a standstill when the opposition boycotted parliamentary activity after it blamed the government for the Oct. 19 assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan.

However, several March 14 alliance MPs announced on Monday readiness to attend a meeting of a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with drafting an electoral law.

An Nahar newspaper said Tuesday that Berri and his deputy Farid Makari are coordinating on holding the meeting soon.

But Makari insisted on meeting at the house of one of the March 14 MPs which Berri did not show any objection to.

The speaker will call the March 8 majority lawmakers, who are members of the subcommittee, and consult with them on the proposal, Makari told An Nahar.

Despite a positive sign on the opposition's willingness to attend the meeting, Berri ruled out any agreement on an electoral law in December, which is the holiday season.

He expected “nothing serious to take place” before mid-January and said: “If there is goodwill, then there is enough time to adopt a new electoral law” before the 2013 elections.