Charbel Prefers Stability over Holding Polls, Praises Municipal by-Elections

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Monday that political consensus over the parliamentary elections will reflect stability in the country, hailing the municipal by-elections that were held in several towns.

“If I was asked to choose between stability and holding the elections, I favor stability,” Charbel said during a press conference at the headquarters of the Interior Ministry.

The minister considered that political foes should reach common ground over the electoral law to avoid provocations.

Charbel called on politicians to resolve the dispute over the draft-law as he doesn't have “an option but to prepare for elections according to the 1960 law” that is based on the winner-takes-all system.

The rival parties are yet to agree on a draft-law after the adoption of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal by the joint parliamentary committees, which drew a sharp debate among the opposition's factions and with 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 draft-law has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and the March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has been also criticized by President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Concerning the municipal by-elections that were held in a number of towns across Lebanon on Sunday, Charbel described them as “civilized.”

He hailed the efforts exerted by the army leadership and the security forces for maintaining security to ensure a safe electoral process.

Charbel noted that the participation percentage reached 60 in several towns on Sunday.

The by-elections did not witness any major security incidents and took place in 17 villages and towns in the districts of Mount Lebanon, the Bekaa, North, and South.

Asked about Salafist cleric Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal's threats to issue a fatwa that calls for jihad against the army, Charbel said that the army includes soldiers form all sects, in particular Sunnis.

He pointed out that al-Shahhal will not issue such a fatwa that targets the army.

Al-Shahhal called on the army over the weekend to “correct its performance,", threatening to issue a fatwa that calls for jihad against those “slandering Sunnis."

On demands set by controversial Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir to end what he says is the army siege on the southern town of Abra and media blackout, Charbel said that he wasn't informed about the matter.

The Salafist cleric and his supporters held several sit-ins over the weekend to protest claims that Hizbullah rented apartments in the vicinity of his mosque in the town of Abra near the southern city of Sidon.

He threatened to escalate his measures if the demands weren't met.