Report: AMAL, Hizbullah Believe Bassil's Law Proposal 'Problematic'

Hizbullah party and the AMAL movement do not seem to approve of a new electoral law proposal presented by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil describing it as “very problematic”, media reports said on Monday.

“The electoral law proposal suggested by Bassil includes a very big problem that has to do with sectarian majority voting in a way that will only push the country backward,” sources from AMAL and Hizbullah parties told al-Joumhouria daily.

The sources added that Bassil's law does not bring Lebanon closer to the implementation of the Taef Accord as he claims, because his own law is sectarian “how can a sectarian law bring us closer to the Taef accord which states the abolition of sectarianism?” they asked.

The sources said they presented their remakes to Bassil who chose to ignore them and instead continue to suggest new ideas without addressing the major problem, “the ball is in his court now. We are waiting for his reply,” they concussed.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has recently proposed an electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the controversial law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering.

An informed Free Patriotic Movement parliamentary source told ad-Diyar on Sunday that he is optimistic that a new law might be reached within two weeks, noting that “an intensive round of contacts and deliberations will begin next week.”

The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. The last polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and a single or several large electorates.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat has rejected proportional representation, warning that it would "marginalize" his minority Druze community, whose presence is concentrated in the Aley and Chouf areas.

Amid reservations over proportional representation by other parties such as al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces, the political parties are mulling a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.