Report: Lebanon Facing Political Crisis if Electoral Law Debate Fails

A new political crisis could be looming in Lebanon amid concerns that political parties might fail to agree on a new law for the parliamentary polls, and President Michel Aoun's insistence not to sign a request calling the electoral bodies to stage the elections under the current 1960 electoral law, the Kuwaiti As-Seyasah daily reported on Friday.

The matter is a serious one, said the daily. Only ten days separate Lebanon from February 21, the deadline to call the electorate bodies. Meanwhile an agreement on a new electoral law does not seem possible in light of contending political interests. Some political parties support a proportional representation system, others back a hybrid law and another group wants the polls be staged under the current 1960 majoritarian law.

The situation as is, does not seem to be heading towards a solution as stated by prominent parliamentary sources of al-Mustaqbal Movement, said the daily. Concessions must be made first in favor of the so-called hybrid electoral law which does not trigger any provocations. The interests of the country must be the major concern, it added.

Political parties must understand that raising the ceiling of their demands does not serve the country's best interest, and they must not permit any vacuum at the level of the parliament.

Moreover, ministerial sources close to President Michel Aoun said the political parties have no choice but to agree on a new law and to turn the page on the 1960 law. The president is optimistic in that regard, because there is an understanding between politicians that Lebanon and the Lebanese' interests press the need for devising a new law to stage the elections during Spring, the daily concluded.

Political parties are bickering over devising a new law for the parliamentary polls scheduled in May.

While Mustaqbal had previously rejected that the electoral law be fully based on proportional representation, arguing that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds, Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat has totally rejected proportional representation, even within a hybrid law, warning that it would “marginalize” the minority Druze community.

Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, AMAL, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces are meanwhile discussing several formats of a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate.

The last polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next vote is scheduled for May.