Gemayel Rejects 1960 Law, Says Municipal Vote Not for 'Settling Political Scores'

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel announced Thursday that he refuses a return to the 1960 electoral law under which the 2009 parliamentary polls were held, while stressing that Kataeb did not seek to “score points against others” in the municipal elections that were held last month.

“I call on Speaker Nabih Berri not to risk a return to the 1960 law and to pledge that a session would be held to vote on all the proposed laws, even if we don't reach a prior agreement on a certain electoral law,” said Gemayel at a press conference.

The 1960 law is based on 26 districts and the winner-takes-all system while the parliament is currently mulling a law based on proportional representation and a hybrid one that mixes the two systems.

Turning to the latest municipal elections, Gemayel noted that “all those who participated in the electoral process have contributed to reviving the democratic life.”

“Kataeb decided to implement the principle of decentralization in the elections and the decisions in the municipal polls were based on local considerations. Kataeb's members chose the alliances in their towns and we didn't impose anything on anyone,” he pointed out.

“In these elections, Kataeb considered that the objective of the polls is development in the various regions, not scoring points against others and settling political scores,” Gemayel stressed.

He added: “The elections proved that the Lebanese are free and that the Lebanese society managed to say 'No' when it wants and 'Yes' when it wants. The Lebanese proved that their will cannot be usurped in elections after citizens felt like the political parties were dealing with them as commodities.”

“We drew another lesson from the municipal polls, which taught us that the Lebanese people have the ability to change things,” Gemayel said.

And noting that the results of the municipal elections will oblige all parties to “reevaluate their calculations,” Gemayel underlined that “a democracy that is not based on accountability is not a democracy.”

“I call on the civil society to engage with us in an open dialogue for the sake of change in Lebanon and we in Kataeb are ready for such a move,” he added.

Y.R.