In light of the political parties failure to agree on a new electoral law before the due date, President Michel Aoun said that a compulsory technical postponement of the parliamentary elections must not exceed a period of five months.
Aoun stressed, during separate meetings he held earlier with Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, the need to abide by the time period of not more than five months shall the technical extension of the parliamentary elections be necessary, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.
“A technical extension of the parliament's mandate must not exceed five months,” said Aoun, stressing the need to agree on a new electoral law to govern the upcoming polls.
Latest reports have indicated that a proportional representation system has become the basis for any new format that will be devised by political parties.
Mashnouq had announced on Monday after meeting Aoun, that Lebanon will have a new electoral law within a month, noting that it will inevitably contain a proportional representation component.
For his part, Hariri said from Baabda that there is “a very positive dialogue among the various political parties” regarding the electoral law.
Date: 21/03/2017
