Rival Officials Intensify Consultations to Resolve Dispute over Electoral Law

Consultations are ongoing among the Lebanese foes to reach an agreement on a new electoral law that would govern the upcoming parliamentary elections as officials opposing the adoption of the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law are insisting on their stance.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Wednesday, Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to hold talks later in the day with a delegation from Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front.

“If the security chaos remains the same, the polls will be definitely postponed,” Berri told the newspaper.

The daily also reported that envoys of President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati continued on Tuesday their consultations with the political factions.

Suleiman's envoy, former Minister Khalil al-Hrawi, and Miqati's envoy, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas, discussed with Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan the matter.

The two officials are also expected to hold talks on Wednesday with National Struggle Front MP Akram Shehayeb and PSP official Hisham Nasr Eddine and another meeting will be held with Berri's Liberation and Development parliamentary bloc MP Ali Bazzi.

Media reports said on Tuesday that Suleiman and Miqati's envoys are holding talks with the rival officials on a law that sees the election of 68 MPs based on the winner-takes-all system and 60 based on the proportional representation system.

The president and premier's draft law is also based on 26 electoral districts and nine provinces.

This law combines that of Berri and the Mustaqbal bloc.

Sources close to al-Mustaqbal movement told An Nahar that head of the parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora held a telephone conversation on Tuesday night with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

The report said that the two officials discussed the possibility of reaching common ground over an electoral law.

The sources described discussions as “positive,” stressing the unity of the March 14 alliance.

The polls are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the Orthodox proposal that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees.

It divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

But the proposal has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has also been criticized by Suleiman and Miqati.

The electoral law was also tackled during a meeting between the president and head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Tuesday.

Suleiman, according to An Nahar, reiterated during the meeting his rejection to the Orthodox proposal.