Berri Suggests Holding Simultaneous Parliamentary, Senate Elections

Speaker Nabih Berri suggested on Tuesday holding the elections of parliament and senate members simultaneously after the Progressive Socialist Party renewed its call for the creation of a senate and the implementation of administrative decentralization.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Berri said: “I suggest holding the parliamentary and senate elections simultaneously although the Taef accord calls for electing the members of the senate after the election of the first non-sectarian parliament.”

He said he would “deal with it seriously” if all factions agree to such a proposal, although parliament would lose some of its authorities.

However, Berri told As Safir he “didn't have reservations in that regard because I don't own the legislature.”

He expressed approval to electing the senate based on the Orthodox Gathering proposal which envisages a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a system of proportional representation.

But said the parliament should be elected based on proportionality and a single district with a division of power between Muslims and Christians but not sects.

MP Akram Shehayyeb, who is representing the centrist PSP in the meetings of a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with finding common ground on an electoral draft-law, reiterated on Monday his party's demand for the formation of a senate.

The members of the subcommittee have admitted to wide differences between them on the draft-law.

But Berri stressed that there was no foreign intervention in the discussions between the rival March 8 majority and March 14 opposition alliance MPs.

All the electoral proposals are made in Lebanon, he said. “That's why the Lebanese have a historic opportunity to prove their capabilities.”