An extended four-party meeting held at the Center House Sunday evening failed to record a breakthrough agreement on a new electoral law for Lebanon’s parliamentary polls, as Hizbullah party “mourned” a law format suggested by the Progressive Socialist Party, media reports said on Tuesday.
“The meeting was held in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Hizbullah secretary-general’s political aide Hussein Khalil and Hariri’s chief of staff Nader Hariri,” al-Joumhouria daily reported.
“The interlocutors failed to reach common ground on any of the formats and ideas that have been presented by various political parties so far. Meanwhile, Bassil stressed adherence to his law format which be believes is best for the Christians and ensures just representation,” said the daily.
“In parallel with Hariri’s leniency towards adopting Bassil’s so called qualification system, it was openly rejected by the Finance Minister and Hizbullah secretary-general’s political aide who reiterated adherence to proportional representation system,” of Hizbullah’s, it added.
Al-Joumhouria pointed out that Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad has openly rejected the Progressive Socialist Party leader’s law format. During a political meeting in south Lebanon, Raad dubbed the format as a “waste of time as well as procrastination.”
Monday evening, Prime Minister Saad Hariri met at the Center House with a delegation from the Progressive Socialist Party where discussions focused on the ongoing contacts with the various parties to devise a new draft electoral law.
The delegation explained the content of the draft law that has been proposed by the party in this regard.
The PSP had on Saturday proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and winner-takes-all systems in an equal manner across 26 districts.
Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and a single or several large electorates.
