Geagea Points to International and Arab Decision to Hold Elections on Time

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that an international and Arab decision has been conveyed to Lebanese officials stressing the necessity to hold the parliamentary elections on time, al-Liwaa daily said.

Geagea revealed that the international and Arab decisions have pointed to the significance of holding the polls on time, adding that only technical reasons could compel a postponement but only for a few month, the daily added.

The LF leader added that contacts have grown by leaps and bounds particularly between the rival March 14 and March 8 alliances to agree on an electoral draft-law that meets the approval of all parties, pointing that discussions focus on the possibility of adopting the Fouad Boutros law.

The draft-law calls for the election of 77 deputies on the basis of the winner-takes-all system and 51 deputies based on the proportional representation system.

Geagea outweighed the possibility that an agreement could be reached within days, if an understanding on dividing the districts is achieved.

The rival political parties are yet to agree on an electoral law after the adoption of the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law by the joint parliamentary committees which created a sharp debate between the opposition and rival coalitions.

The polls are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the proposal that divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

But the proposal has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, Jumblat's centrist National Struggle Front, and the March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has been also criticized by President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.