FPM, Hizbullah MPs Say Proportional Representation is 'Best' Electoral Law

A Free Patriotic Movement delegation comprising MPs Alain Aoun, Ziad Aswad and Naamtallah Abi Nasr visited the headquarters of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Monday as part of an FPM initiative aimed at pushing for the adoption of a new electoral law.

The Haret Hreik meeting was attended by MPs Mohammed Raad, Ali Ammar, Ali Fayyad and Nawwar al-Saheli on Hizbullah's side.

“The meeting was extensive and we discussed in it a roadmap for reaching a modern electoral law based on proportional representation,” said Aoun after the talks, noting that the two parties are in agreement over “all the aspects” of this law.

“This is the best law for preserving the Lebanese society's political and sectarian pluralism... It is also the law that leads to the most correct representation of the people and that law that we aspire for to achieve political and electoral reform,” Aoun added.

He noted that the FPM's meetings with the political parties “will continue in a bid to break the years-long deadlock over this issue.”

Fayyad for his part said Hizbullah and the FPM “agree that the most ideal choice is a law fully based on proportional representation.”

Warning that the deadlines for passing a new electoral law “have started to expire,” Fayyad called on the political forces to “respond to the requirements of the Lebanese formula in terms of fair and correct representation.”

“Listen to what the Lebanese society wants,” he added.

Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had recently warned that there is not much time left to pass a new electoral law while announcing that the ministry is ready to organize the polls under the 1960 law.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.

Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.

The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.

The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.