Berri Says Parties Dare Not Obstruct Elections

Speaker Nabih Berri said that the best thing in the proportional representation parliamentary electoral law is that it “eliminates” any bid aiming to prevent holding the polls, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.

“The best thing about the election law is that it obviates any attempt or reason to prevent staging the elections,” Berri said according to the daily.

Berri noted that he is in agreement with President Michel Aoun as for opposing the introduction of any amendments on the election law.

However he stressed that “dispute declared on the terms of its application will not make anyone dare to obstruct the elections.”

However he lamented the “minimal” progress achieved so far by the ministerial panel tasked with studying the technical mechanisms of the new electoral law.

He said: “We are uselessly wasting time and talk.”

The panel has met on Friday and failed to achieve progress in light of conflict over the issuance of biometric voter cards and pre-registration of voters.

The May 2018 elections will be held under a complex proportional representation system for the first time in Lebanon's history.

The parties are bickering over the issues of pre-registration for voters wishing to cast ballots away from their hometowns as well as the issue of introducing biometric voting cards.