Report: Berri to Propose Voting System Format Based on Proportionality

Source: 
Naharnet
Publication date: 
Apr 22 2017

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to propose a new electoral law format next week that will be based on a full proportional representation system and six districts, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.

Sources close to the Speaker said on condition of anonymity, that “he is open for discussions suggesting an increase in the number of districts to 9 or 10. The proposal guarantees that 50 lawmakers would be elected with the votes of Christians,” they said.

Berri's position follows a failed draft law format of the so-called qualification system that was suggested by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil which Berri and many political parties have described as “unconstitutional”.

Political parties have embarked on introducing new formats, the first will be announced today by the Progressive Socialist Party, Berri next week and al-Mustaqbal Movement “when they are ready,” said the daily.

High-level political sources told al-Akhbar that serious electoral research has been effectively suspended since the Foreign Ministry meeting on Wednesday night. "We need momentum that will lead to progress and break the status-quo situation," the sources said.

They expressed concern that we arrive at the deadline which expires on May 15, without reaching a new voting system.

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.

Date: 22/04/2017

Source: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/228869-report-berri-to-propose-voting-system-format-based-on-proportionality