Berri Says Enough Time to Reach Consensus on Vote Law

Speaker Nabih Berri said Saturday the rival parties still had time to reach consensus on an electoral draft-law but he slammed them for failing to agree on his hybrid proposal.

Both the March 8 majority and March 14 opposition alliances rejected the proposal, which combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems, he told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

But stressed “I am waiting for the (different) parties to propose electoral draft-laws so that we discuss them.”

He reiterated his accusations that each side wanted to draft a law that guarantees its victory in the elections that are scheduled to be held on June 9.

“On the contrary, I wanted through the hybrid proposal for the country to win before anything else,” he told the daily.

Asked whether there was enough time to agree on a draft-law, he said: “There isn't any problem with time but the problem lies in guaranteeing agreement on a vote law.”

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said that the voters should be called to participate in the elections before March 10.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Thursday he had agreed with President Michel Suleiman to sign the decree.

The joint parliamentary committees have approved the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, which considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own lawmakers under a proportional representation system.

However, Suleiman and Miqati have rejected it along with the opposition al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front and the March 14 opposition's independent Christian MPs.