Al-Mustaqbal to Refer New Vote Law to Parliament as Allies Study Hariri's Initiative
The al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc was over the weekend preparing the draft-law based on ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri's initiative that it intends to propose to parliament on Monday, An Nahar daily reported.
Hariri, who is also the head of al-Mustaqbal movement, called on Thursday for a small-district law for this year’s parliamentary elections and for the establishment of a senate representing all religions and sects as stipulated by the Taef agreement.
He told LBCI's Kalam al-Nass talk show that his initiative calls for electing a senate on the basis of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal that would address the concern of Christians over representation.
He said in his four-point initiative that the formation of the senate would take place after amending the constitution to suspend the condition of abolishing sectarianism for a limited period of time.
An Nahar said that al-Mustaqbal's Christian allies in the March 14 alliance – the Phalange Party and the Lebanese Forces who have expressed support for the Orthodox proposal in the parliamentary polls – have remained mum on his initiative.
The Orthodox proposal calls for a single district and says each sect would vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.
A high-ranking March 14 political source justified the silence of the two parties by saying that they were waiting for explanations on the initiative.
The source reiterated that the opposition alliance would remain united and the 8th assassination anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which will be held in BIEL on February 14, would be a clear indication of that.
An MP from a parliamentary subcommittee that is set to convene on Monday told As Safir newspaper that Hariri's small districts initiative is not new and has been previously rejected by the majority of the members.
The lawmaker, who refused to be identified, said an invitation to resume the meetings of the subcommittee came on the basis of limiting its task to studying a hybrid proposal of combining the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.
The MP hinted that Hariri's proposal was aimed at thwarting attempts by the members of the subcommittee to agree on an electoral draft-law.
Hariri “knows that the parliamentary majority (March 8) alliance would not agree on a winner-takes-all system,” the source said.
But a member of al-Mustaqbal bloc made it clear that the subcommittee will not discuss the new initiative for lacking the authority to do so.
The MP hoped in remarks to al-Liwaa daily that Speaker Nabih Berri would refer the draft-law to the joint parliamentary committees for discussion when it resumes its meetings on February 18.
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