Berri Calls for 'Fair' and 'Non-Sectarian' Electoral Law
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called on the political forces to seek a “fair” electoral law that does not aggravate the sectarian situation in the country.
“Vacuum in parliament will not happen, because it would lead to the collapse of the other constitutional institutions,” Berri told his visitors.
Responding to parties that have said that “the expiry of parliament's term without setting a date for elections does not automatically plunge the country into parliamentary vacuum,” the Speaker said: “These people do not know the constitution and the laws, even if they claim so. These are 'satanic' interpretations and heresies.”
Berri's AMAL Movement has reportedly rejected an electoral law proposed by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil that involves sectarian voting in the first round.
Media reports said Tuesday that a hybrid law proposed by Berri has returned to the forefront of political discussions after the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and al-Mustaqbal Movement rejected Bassil's format.
Bassil's hybrid, two-round electoral system prevents voters from voting for candidates from other sects in the first round and divides Lebanon into 26 districts. The second round involves a non-sectarian proportional representation system and 10 larger districts.
Clearly, Naharnet's goal in this issue is to make the electoral system so confusing that the readers will give up trying to understand and just pray the little warlords and their NATO and Persian Gulf Monarchy sponsors just stretch the current instability out another day.
When Berri deplores sectarianism, he is not rejecting Article 24's mandate that half of Parliamentary seats be reserved for "Christians". The question, not spelled out and not clearly answered, is how each half of these mandated blocs is filled. Why don't you talk about it? Embarrassing? US media never mentions this fifty percent set-aside, they only mention the Sunni PM, Christian President, and Shia Speaker. And that makes Lebanon look especially pathetic: all this reasonableness and they still can't pick up their own garbage.