Joint parliamentary committees’ session, set to discuss the electoral draft laws, was adjourned Thursday to May 26.
In this context, Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel said, “We proposed increasing the parliamentary committee meetings to twice a week to adopt a law other than the 1960s one.”
“We are against the 1960 electoral law, which is a massacre against fair representation,” Gemayel added.
Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Bassil noted that expatriates should be allowed representation in Parliament.
MP Alain Aoun expressed regret that “the committees have reached a period of stalling until an agreement is reached on Speaker Nabih Berri's proposal.”
For his Part, Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan said that “returning to the 1960 electoral law means that corruption will not be fought and citizens will not be able to hold officials accountable,” calling on lawmakers to insist on finding a new voting law.
Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat confirmed that a progress was achieved in discussions at the meeting.
“We will in no way accept an electoral law based on proportional representation,” Fatfat pointed out.
In turn, Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan said that “the current electoral law does not respect the Constitution and the National Pact and it must be changed.”
Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Ali Fayyad expressed regret over some parties' rejection of the proportionality law, noting that the latter rectifies the political representation.