BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun’s decision to open an extraordinary parliamentary session is aimed at pushing rival politicians to agree on a new vote law ahead of this year’s planned elections, official sources said Sunday.

Meanwhile, Aoun is scheduled to embark Monday on his first foreign trip as president by visiting Saudi Arabia and Qatar on a tour chiefly aimed at bolstering ties with Arab Gulf states and seeking to remove the advisory against Gulf citizens traveling to Lebanon.

“The main goal behind the president signing a decree to open an extraordinary parliamentary session is to enable Parliament to exercise its legislative role in parallel with the resumption of the presidency’s and Cabinet’s work,” an official source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star.

Noting that Parliament’s ordinary session begins on March 21, the source said: “Parliament cannot remain idle for more than two months while the Cabinet pushes ahead with proposals and draft laws to deal with urgent issues.

“President Aoun’s decision, taken in agreement with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, reflects the two leaders’ interest in giving priority to a new electoral law,” the source said. He added that the decision enhances the chances of an agreement by the rival factions on a new vote law to replace the controversial 1960 majoritarian system ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May.

Aoun Saturday signed a decree to open an extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss urgent draft laws, including the 2017 draft state budget. A statement issued by Aoun’s media office said that Parliament’s extraordinary session begins on Jan. 9 and ends on March 20. It added that Aoun’s decision was taken in agreement with Hariri.

Parliament normally convenes in two ordinary terms from March 21 until the end of May and from the third week of October through the end of December.

The decree stated that draft laws or proposals for parliamentary elections and the state budget bills that have been referred to Parliament or those to be referred topped the agenda of the extraordinary session.

The agenda also includes a raft of draft laws that have been referred to Parliament and those that will be referred, in addition to all bills and proposals which Parliament’s Secretariat decides to present to the chamber, the statement said.

Parliament held its last legislative session in October, during which lawmakers passed pressing financial bills and other draft laws, a few days before the legislature met on Oct. 31 to elect Aoun as president, ending a 29-month presidential vacuum.MP Alain Aoun, from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, said the opening of an extraordinary parliamentary session was basically aimed at pursuing a new electoral law. “An electoral law gains special significance because elections will take place in May. But the [state] budget is essential and urgent on which President Michel Aoun is insisting in order to ensure a regular functioning of the state,” Aoun told Al-Jadeed TV Sunday night.

Lebanese parties are at odds over adopting a proportional vote law, or a hybrid electoral law that includes aspects of the proportional and winner-take-all systems, to replace the 1960 law.

The Free Patriotic Movement, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah have been lobbying for a pure proportional law with Lebanon as a single constituency. The Future Movement and MP Walid Jumblatt oppose an electoral law based on proportional representation. The Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc has reiterated its commitment to a hybrid electoral law based on a majoritarian system and proportional representation.

A member of Speaker Nabih Berri’s parliamentary bloc said he expected a “technical” extension of Parliament’s term. “A technical extension [of Parliament’s term] is possible,” MP Anwar Khalil said during a visit to the south Lebanon border town of Deir Mimas. “The elections are due in June. However, there are two factors that might delay it. The month of Ramadan and the final days of the school year coincide with the elections.”

MP Ibrahim Kanaan from Aoun’s bloc said his party would meet with other parliamentary blocs to reach common ground on a unified vote law.

“Draft electoral laws have been confined to two or three formulas and they are being examined to reach a unified criterion,” Kanaan told the Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3). “The 1960 law is finished for us. When there is a political will [by rival factions], an electoral law can be approved within weeks.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese officials sounded optimistic that Aoun’s visit to Saudi Arabia would lead to the revival of suspended Saudi military grants to the security forces and the lifting of an advisory against Gulf citizens traveling to Lebanon. “President Michel Aoun will bring up the reactivation of the Saudi grant to the Lebanese Army during his visit to the kingdom. It’s on his agenda to serve the Lebanese interest,” Kanaan told the same radio station.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Aoun would discuss Saudi military grants during his visit to Riyadh. “The signs of Saudi openness [toward Lebanon] should yield positive results, but I can’t predict the resumption of the Saudi grant to Lebanon,” Machnouk told a local radio station.

The Saudi Embassy in Beirut predicted the removal of an advisory to Saudi citizens not to travel to Lebanon following Aoun’s visit to Riyadh.

“Everyone is pinning great hopes on President Aoun’s visit to Riyadh Monday because it creates a new climate that will help in the resumption of the travel of Saudi citizens to Lebanon and bringing it back to normal,” the embassy said in a statement published by An-Nahar newspaper.

Aoun will head a high-ranking delegation of eight ministers on a two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia starting Monday. From Riyadh, the president will travel on to the neighboring Gulf state of Qatar for another two-day official visit.

Lebanon’s relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries soured in February last year when Riyadh halted a $3 billion grant to buy arms from France for the Lebanese Army, in addition to another $1 billion grant to strengthen the military and security forces. The move was in protest at perceived hostile stances against the kingdom linked to Hezbollah and Iran at Arab League and Islamic meetings.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states also warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon in what appeared to be a punitive measure over the Lebanese government’s pro-Hezbollah policies.

Economy Minister Raed Khoury from the FPM said Aoun would hold a closed meeting with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz ahead of the official talks between the two sides. “President Aoun will discuss with King Salman the Saudi grant and the atmosphere is positive,” Khoury told a local TV station.

Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf, also from the FPM, said he expected Aoun’s trips to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to yield “positive results” at all levels, particularly in the tourism and investment sectors.