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Report: Hariri and Geagea Agree to Exert Efforts on a New Electoral Law

Former PM Saad Hariri and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea agreed to keep up efforts in a bid to find a new electoral law that guarantees national consensus, on the backdrop of Tuesday's approval of the controversial Orthodox Gathering proposal, the al-Joumhouria daily said Wednesday.

In a lengthy phone call overnight, the two men touched on the thorny draft-law that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees, amid a walkout by the lawmakers of al-Mustaqbal bloc, the National Struggle Front and some independent Christian March 14 MPs.

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Berri Gives Rival MPs Chance to Reach Consensus on Vote Law

Speaker Nabih Berri vowed on Wednesday to keep his centrist position on the differences between lawmakers over which electoral draft-law guarantees the best representation for all the Lebanese.

“The 1960 law is behind us and the Orthodox Gathering proposal in front of us,” he told An Nahar daily. “I will keep myself in the middle until the Lebanese reach consensus.”

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Anti-Orthodox Draft MPs Warn Against its Adoption for Shattering Lebanon

The members of the March 14 opposition alliance, who have severely criticized the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law, warned again on Wednesday that the country would be shattered if parliament gives it the green light.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily, March 14 independent Christian MP Butros Harb said he sought to convince Speaker Nabih Berri during a meeting of the joint parliamentary committees to postpone the approval of the proposal's 2nd article.

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Report: Gemayel Follows Up Georges Abdallah's Case

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel is following up the case of Lebanese leftist militant Georges Abdallah, who has been jailed for nearly three decades in France, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Sources close to the party told As Safir newspaper that the Christian leader is following up the case through diplomatic channels based on the “positive” signs that loomed recently.

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Jumblat Slams Adoption of Orthodox Proposal, Describes Joint Committees Session 'Sad Day'

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat lashed out at the adoption of so-called Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law by the joint parliamentary committees on Tuesday, describing it as a “sad” day.

The “proposal takes us back to isolation and divides the Lebanese entity,” Jumblat said in comments to An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

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Child Dies from Meningitis after Northern Hospitals Refuse to Treat Him

Two years-old Momen Khaled al-Mohammed died on Tuesday from Meningitis after several Tripoli and northern hospitals refused to treat him because his family could not afford the cost of the care, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

"The child's parents went from one hospital to another but they were turned down for not being able to bear the cost of the treatment,” the NNA explained.

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Activists Rally in Beirut to Slam Approval of Orthodox Vote Law

A group of civil society activists staged a sit-in on Tuesday near the parliament in downtown Beirut to condemn the preliminary approval of a draft electoral law they believe will aggravate the sectarian tensions in Lebanon.

The youth organization of the Democratic Renewal Movement and the movement's secretary Antoine Haddad took part in the protest. Haddad warned that the Orthodox Gathering's electoral proposal -- under which each sect would elect its own representatives -- “would drag us several centuries into the past and strip Lebanese citizens of their right to vote for a candidate who doesn't belong to their own sect.”

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Mustaqbal Slams Orthodox Proposal Adoption, Says 'Best Gift' to Israel

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc slammed on Monday the joint parliamentary committees' adoption of the Orthodox Gathering's draft electoral law, expressing that it is a “black day in Lebanon's history”.

“Some MPs have abandoned Lebanon and its institutions today,” the bloc's released statement said after the lawmakers' weekly meeting. “It is a black day in Lebanon's legislative history”.

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Aoun 'Congratulates' Geagea, Gemayel, al-Rahi on Orthodox Law Approval, Says May Create 'New Realities'

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday said “new realities” might emerge concerning ties with his Christian rivals, after they contributed to the joint parliamentary committees' approval of the controversial draft electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering.

“Today is the brightest day in Lebanon's history because rights were returned to their owners without encroaching on the rights of others. The value of the votes of marginalized groups has been restored, that's why we're happy with this achievement,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform in Rabiyeh.

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Report: Cabinet to Hold Session in Baabda, Seeks to Contain 'Discontent' over Aoun's Bahrain Comments

A cabinet session will be held at Baabda Palace instead of the Grand Serail on Wednesday given “the importance and the seriousness of the topics to be discussed”, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday.

Wednesday's session will try to contain the discontent over Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's comments on the current situation in Bahrain.

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