Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour revealed on Saturday that a team has succeeded in devising a draft law on granting expatriates the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

He told Sawt al-Mada radio: “The file has been finalized and we will refer it to cabinet in the next few days.”

National Struggle Front parliamentary bloc leader MP Walid Jumblat is reportedly seeking to normalize ties with the Democratic Gathering bloc to confront the new electoral law that is based on proportional representation.

Al-Liwaa daily said Saturday that Social Affairs Ministers Wael Abou Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat, made a speech on Friday during an event organized by the lawmakers of the Progressive Socialist Party.

The March 14-led opposition has denied that it is seeking to propose a draft law in parliament to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon if the government fails to take such an action.

MPs Marwan Hamadeh and George Adwan and March 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid told An Nahar daily on Friday that the opposition is not mulling to propose a draft law.

Following on Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s rulings on connectivity and deferral, the Office of the Prosecutor looks forward to receiving the relevant files from the Lebanese authorities in relation to the attacks against former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr and assassination of former Lebanese Communist Party leader Georges Hawi, said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a statement.

“The Pre-Trial Judge’s decisions mark a new chapter in the Office of the Prosecutor’s work,” it stated.

General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza has denied that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has asked him to turn over the judiciary’s files regarding the attacks on former Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr, and ex-communist party leader George Hawi.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily published Saturday, Mirza said: “We haven’t been informed by the international tribunal about the deferral orders on the cases of Elias Murr, Marwan Hamadeh and George Hawi.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has established jurisdiction over three attacks relating to former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr and former head of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, said the STL in a press release.

Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has also ordered that the Lebanese authorities provide the relevant files to the Prosecutor, it added.

Contacts are ongoing between Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and AMAL to discuss the steps that should be taken after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri published the indictment, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

The STL published on Wednesday the indictment after it said there was enough evidence to try four Hizbullah members in the murder of Hariri.

Indictments in the assassination of former Lebanese Communist Party leader George Hawi and attempted assassinations of former ministers Elias Murr and Marwan Hamadeh will likely be released on Wednesday, revealed widely informed sources to Al-Liwaa daily in remarks published on Saturday.

The indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri meanwhile may be released at the end of August, they added.

MP and Former Minister Marwan Hamadeh expressed relief after his meeting with a delegation from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Thursday.

Hamadeh, who escaped an assassination attempt in 2004, told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday that “it was a day full of conflicting emotions.”

The joint U.N. and international investigators commission informed former ministers Elias Murr and Marwan Hamadeh and ex-LBCI anchorwoman May Chidiac that two of the Hizbullah suspects accused of being involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are also involved in their assassination attempts, revealed widely informed sources to the Central News Agency on Thursday.

The commission also informed them that these same two suspects are also involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Communist Party leader George Hawi, who was killed in a bomb attack planted in his car on June 21, 2005.