REPORT: Will the electoral parliamentary committee agree on one electoral law?

The Etoiles Suite Hotel in the Parliament’s security zone will open its doors next Tuesday for the members of the smaller parliamentary committee to look into two items from the draft elections law.     

While the absence of the committee’s head and Deputy House Speaker Farid Makari has been confirmed due to his stay in Paris, meetings will be chaired by MP Robert Ghanem.

Some MPs who received threats will reportedly be replaced by others from the same bloc. MP Elie Aoun will probably replace MP Akram Chehayeb, MP Fadi el Habr will be representing Sami Gemayel,  and in case MP Ahmad Fatfat does not show up, the Future bloc will send MP Samir el-Jisr to represent it.      

MP Serge Torsarkissian stressed that March 14 has originally agreed to suggest one electoral law, adding that the debate will take place among March 8’s members who have 3 different draft laws. “I regret the fact that March 8 agree on proportionality while we agree on the majority system,” he said.  

Torsarkissian told LBCI that meetings will be similar to a dialogue table which constitutes “a second-class breathing space on the political level”, adding that March 14 members are coordinating with their leaders to reach a tangible result.        

The MPs are expected to stay at the hotel for 7 days to discuss the division of electoral districts and agree on an electoral law.      

In this regard, MP Alain Aoun considered that "logic, scientific and consensual standard" must be adopted, adding “if the meetings' participants do not want to change the law and are using these meetings to delude the public opinion, then it would be very difficult to reach a real solution.”       

Aoun told LBCI that March 14 wants an electoral law based on proportionality “since it would be the only law to achieve real reform, create a different political class and a different political behavior by voters, candidates and MPs. "All the remaining laws will preserve the same old political class."

Do these meetings aim at wasting time or will they lead to a centrist law accepted by both parties? The answer will depend on the next few days.


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above