Electoral Subcommittee to Meet again on Monday after 48-Hour Consultations

The electoral subcommittee adjourned on Saturday its meeting for further consultations over a new electoral law as the rival parties failed once again to reach common ground over the matter.

In its seventh round of talks the subcommittee reached a standstill after discussions reflected the sharp differences between lawmakers on the adoption of a consensual vote law.

The session, which was held under the auspices of Speaker Nabih Berri, was adjourned to Monday.

“We have reached a dead-end,” Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun told reporters gathered at the parliament.

He pointed out that the rival parties have 48 hours to mull their options, saying: “We will either have to adopt the 1960 electoral law or extend the mandate of the current parliament.”

“This stage requires deep thinking to change our reality,” Aoun said.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat lashed out at the parties that rejected the adoption of a hybrid electoral draft-law as “it is an adequate replacement for the Orthodox Gathering proposal and the 1960 law.”

He told reporters that Hizbullah deputies will not attend any parliamentary session if the hybrid-law was put for voting “which makes the 1960 law our only option.”

The March 14 alliance, excluding the Phalange party, proposed a hybrid electoral law which calls for 54 MPs to be elected under the winner-takes-all system and 46 percent via the proportional representation system.

The country would be divided into six governorates.

Fatfat said that Speaker Berri rejects calling for a parliamentary session of the rival parties failed to reach a consensual electoral law.

For his part, Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Fayyad said that the March 8 alliance entered the session with an intention to reach an agreement with the foes but unfortunately we failed.

“We all feel responsible and are seeking a consensual electoral law,” Fayyad told reporters.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said that the Lebanese are not able to agree on an electoral law made-in-Lebanon.

“It is shameful that we can't even reach consensus on a vote law,” Adwan said.

He slammed the rival parties, noting that the only obstacle blocking consensus is that each party aims at scoring a point in politics and in the polls.

“We are running out of time but I am positive that we can reach consensus without any interference,” the lawmaker said.

Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel told reporters that “the subcommittee reached a delicate stage as the problem isn't technical.”

“We oppose the adoption of any standards that guarantee the victory of a party over the other,” Gemayel said.

He pointed out that Phalange party will contribute positively to any solution.

The parliament's electoral subcommittee has been holding consecutive meetings since Wednesday under the auspices of Berri in an attempt to reach consensus over the matter.

An amended version of the 1960 law was adopted in the 2009 parliamentary elections, but the majority of the political blocs are refusing to adopt it for this year's polls.

The Orthodox Gathering law has meanwhile been rejected by President Michel Suleiman, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, the Mustaqbal bloc, MP Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front, and independent Christian March 14 MPs.

The Orthodox draft law, which considers Lebanon a single electoral district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system, is strongly backed by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement.