Charbel: Polls to be Postponed if Hybrid Draft-Law Adopted
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Sunday this year's polls should be postponed if a hybrid draft-law was adopted to pave way for raising awareness on the new law.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5), Charbel said: “We will have to postpone the parliamentary elections if the hybrid law was adopted because we should raise the awareness of the electorates on the new law.”
The minister described the hybrid law, which combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems, as being “complicated.”
He reiterated that the preparations are underway based on the 1960 law given the failure of lawmakers so far to agree on a new draft-law that would govern the elections, which are set to take place in June.
An electoral subcommittee has failed on agreeing on a new draft-law after intense deliberations that focused on the hybrid proposal made by Speaker Nabih Berri.
The failure stemmed from differences on the number and size of districts and the percentage of MPs who would be elected under the two systems.
The hybrid and another proposal, which had at first garnered the support of the four major Christian parties, will be the subject of discussions by the joint parliamentary committees starting Monday.
The so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 electoral districts based on the proportional representation system
Charbel said his ministry's preparations for the elections would be easier if the Orthodox proposal was adopted.
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