Berri Questions Reports of Parliament Session on March 9 Given Lack of Agreement on Electoral Law

Speaker Nabih Berri has questioned media reports that he will call parliament to session on March 9 in order to vote on a parliamentary electoral law, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He told the daily that claims that a session will be held on March 9 are media speculation.

The speaker had repeatedly said that he will not call for a parliament session in light of a lack of agreement over a new law.

“I take the country's interests into consideration before taking any decision,” Berri stressed.

The rival parties are yet to agree on a draft law after the adoption of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal by the joint parliamentary committees, which drew a sharp debate among the opposition's faction and with rival coalitions.

The polls are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the proposal that divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

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