Date: Jul 27, 2016
Source: The Daily Star
Lebanon: EU stresses need for parliamentary polls despite law hurdle
BEIRUT: The European Union Tuesday underlined the importance of holding parliamentary elections on time, even if Parliament fails to reach an agreement on a new electoral law given the ongoing hurdles.

The message was relayed during a visit by a delegation of EU country ambassadors headed by EU Ambassador to Lebanon Christina Lassen, to Deputy Speaker Farid Makari and members of Parliament’s joint committee working to draft a new electoral law.

The delegation’s visit was to learn more about the committee’s work and progress in finding alternatives to the current voting law, as parliamentary elections are penciled in for summer 2017.

“There are some factions that see absolute and full proportional [representation] the best formula; other factions are hanging on to the majoritarian system with several forms and redivisions of the districts. There is a third faction that sees a hybrid law as a solution that combines the majoritarian and proportional representation systems,” Makari explained to the delegation.

He said there were attempts to work on a hybrid system, but the committee has faced hurdles. Makari added that the situation is complicated since no one in Lebanon wanted Parliament to extend its term for a third time, especially after the success of the municipal elections in May.

“So we either agree on a new electoral law in the upcoming period or we will be forced to hold the elections based on the current law,” Makari noted.

The political parties remain at an impasse despite general agreement on the need to change the old 1960 electoral law. Many Christians argue that the 1960 law devalues Christian votes in some of the country’s districts in which they form only a minority.

“The EU representatives underlined the fact that the European Union and member states remain convinced that Lebanon is able to hold parliamentary elections on schedule,” read a press release issued following the meeting.

According to the statement, the delegation told Lebanese officials that it felt the EU Election Observation Mission’s recommendations from the 2009 parliamentary elections were still valid.

“[It] remains relevant, in particular on some key issues such as the need to set up oversight bodies over media and campaign financing, and the need for mechanisms and policies to strengthen women representation, officially preprinted ballots, and accessibility of polling stations.”


Cabinet, joint committees set for more futile meetings

Hussein Dakroub
BEIRUT: The Cabinet will meet in a special session Wednesday devoted to discussing the telecommunications sector, but will not act on demands for the extension of licenses for Lebanon’s two mobile operators, Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said Tuesday.

Also, the joint parliamentary committees are slated to meet Wednesday in yet another attempt to reach consensus on a new electoral law, amid signs that the meeting is doomed to fail like previous ones, given lingering wide differences between the rival factions over what voting system to adopt for next year’s parliamentary elections.

“The Cabinet session tomorrow [Wednesday] is confined to all issues related to the Telecommunications Ministry. But the extension of contracts of the two mobile companies [Alfa and touch] is not listed on the agenda,” Harb told the Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station.

“I will present the problems facing the work of the ministry. I hope public interest will be taken into account. No settlement of scores, spitefulness or domination of personal interests.”

Taking an indirect jab at the ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement who have quarreled with Harb during Cabinet sessions over his handling of the ministry, Harb expressed regret “because the only aim of some [ministers] is to obstruct the ministry’s work.”

The government has renewed the contracts with the current cellular operators Alfa and touch in previous years. Harb said that the contracts with the international companies were conducted in a transparent manner, rejecting allegations that there were suspicious deals and transactions at his ministry.

Meanwhile, the head of the European Union delegation to Lebanon, Ambassador Christina Lassen, and ambassadors of EU member states met with Parliament Deputy Speaker Farid Makari and members of joint parliamentary committees tasked with reforming an election law.The delegation said in a statement that the EU is convinced that Lebanon is able to hold parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in 2017.

Speaker Nabih Berri has called on the joint parliamentary committees, representing rival blocs, to meet Wednesday to resume their deliberations on a new electoral law. The committees have failed so far to agree on a unified voting system that would replace the 1960 majoritarian law that was used in the last legislative elections in 2009.

The committees’ talks have shown that the March 8 and March 14 blocs are still poles apart over a unified voting system.

The committees have referred the thorny issue to national dialogue leaders who decided last month to meet in three successive sessions on Aug. 2, 3 and 4 to try to reach a package deal over key issues, including the election of a president, a new voting system and the shape of a new government.

Lebanon has been left without a head of state since former President Michel Sleiman’s six-year tenure ended in May 2014. Parliament has since been unable to convene due to a lack of quorum to choose a successor. A new Parliament session to elect a president is set for Aug. 8.

The committees’ deliberations have focused on several proposals for a hybrid electoral law based on proportional representation and a winner-take-all system. The Lebanese Forces, along with the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, have proposed a hybrid law whereby 60 MPs would be elected on the basis of proportional representation and the remaining 68 MPs in a winner-take-all system. 

Berri’s bloc has proposed a hybrid law that calls for the election of half of the 128 lawmakers on the basis of proportional representation and the other half in a winner-take-all system. Other proposals call for declaring Lebanon a single electoral district.

Meanwhile, the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc lamented the failure of the Arab summit held in Mauritania Monday to address key issues that concern Arabs, particularly the Palestine case, in addition to confronting the causes of the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. It also rejected attempts to resettle Syrian or Palestinian refugees permanently in Lebanon.

“Amid the intimidation campaigns launched by those who are trying to exploit the severe humanitarian ordeal to which the Syrian people [are subjected], including displacement, the bloc underlined the importance of adherence to the points of Lebanese unanimity contained in the Constitution and the [National] Pact, which basically rejected resettlement in Lebanon, be it resettlement of Palestinian refugees or displaced Syrians,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform parliamentary bloc welcomed Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s call at the Arab summit for the creation of a joint Arab committee to explore ways to relocate Syrian refugees from Lebanon to “safer areas” within their home country.

“The prime minister at the Nouakchott summit spoke about the possibility of establishing safe areas in Syria. We are waiting for practical measures for this advanced position, even though it came late,” former Minister Salim Jreissati told reporters after the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Aoun at his residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut. He called on the Lebanese government to coordinate over this issue with Syria in cooperation with the United Nations.

For his part, LF chief Samir Geagea said his party would continue to push for the election Aoun for the presidency, while accusing Iran of obstructing the presidential vote through Hezbollah.

“We had one of two options, either to convince Hezbollah and Iran to lift the siege [off the presidency], which was impossible after they invested a lot in Syria to ensure [President Bashar] Assad stays – and I assure he will not remain in Syria – or endorse Aoun for the presidency,” Geagea said during a meeting with Lebanese expatriates at his residence in Maarab.

“Iran is seeking to garner the West and Gulf states’ support to keep Assad in Syria in return for lifting the siege off Lebanon’s presidency. But, of course, no one supported this proposal,” Geagea said.