Miqati Optimistic on Holding Elections on Time Based on Modern Law
Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Friday that the 2013 parliamentary elections would be held based on what he called a modern law, reiterating that only dialogue salvages Lebanon and preserves stability.
In remarks to Grand Serail employees and accredited journalists, Miqati said he was highly optimistic for 2013 during which “the elections would be held on time through a modern law.”
The March 8 majority alliance and the March 14 opposition have been trading accusations on seeking to postpone the elections and holding onto the winner-takes-all system of the 1960 law.
The cabinet's electoral bill that has set 13 districts and is based on proportional representation faced a deadlock in parliament after the March 14 alliance rejected it.
Discussions on several other draft-laws in parliament also stalled in October after the opposition boycotted all legislative and government related activity in the aftermath of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan.
The coalition has also set the government's resignation as a precondition for attending the all-party talks with March 8 at Baabda palace.
But in his speech on Friday, Miqati said “only dialogue salvages Lebanon and preserves stability.”
“Partnership is Lebanon's soul without which Lebanon would lose its identity ... Our fate is to meet under a united Lebanon,” he said.
“The security danger does not spare anyone,” Miqati stressed, saying that officials who come to office in the future will suffer from the repercussions of the differences between different sides.
“Then why this kind of behavior?” he wondered.
The prime minister warned that the country would weaken from local jolts. “Don't be afraid of foreign dangers because the nation is stronger than any quake that comes from abroad. But it would weaken if it comes from within.”
He appeased fears that the March 8 alliance was seeking to postpone the elections to keep the government in power.
“There will always be a rotation of power,” he said, adding “others will come to build on our achievements.”
The “Lebanese have no choice but to live together despite differences on politics and the economy,” the premier told the Grand Serail staff and reporters.
Stressing that the nation is neither “a geographic location” nor a “farm,” he said the state is a system that sets aside sectarianism and a space where there is stability for everyone's interest.
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