BEIRUT: Lebanon faces a decisive week to endorse a new vote law after Monday’s Parliamentary legislative session was postponed, with both President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri calling for a final agreement ahead of a Cabinet session Wednesday.

Aoun and Hariri met Sunday afternoon to discuss the current situation and the result of the communications regarding an agreement on vote law. “Work should be done quickly to achieve a new electoral law as soon as possible,” Hariri told reporters from Baabda Palace after meeting Aoun.

The current vote law under discussion is a draft for a proportional electoral system that was reached by Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri at Baabda Palace on June 1 and that would divide Lebanon into 15 electoral districts.

Berri Saturday postponed a Monday Parliamentary session to discuss the law after talks failed to yield results ahead of a Cabinet session last week that would have endorsed legislation and referred it to Parliament. The session is now slated for June 16 to give ministers time to approve a final version.

Hariri Saturday called for a Cabinet session to be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Baabda Palace. The electoral law is slated to be the first item of the 47-item agenda.

“The formulation of the law should be done before the Cabinet session,” Hariri said when asked whether the new law’s format will be discussed at the session.

As politicians race against time to agree an electoral law before Parliament’s term ends on June 20, Berri Sunday sounded the alarm regarding the importance of Wednesday’s Cabinet session.

The speaker told his visitors that the session would be a turning point.

“I spoke with Hariri about Wednesday’s session and I pressed him on the need to finalize the law. If that happens and they referred it to me on the same day, then we will print it and distribute it to lawmakers the same day,” Berri was quoted as saying. “And then, Friday’s legislative session will be confirmed.” Differences, however, have emerged between rival political parties after Foreign Minister and current Free Patriotic Movement head Gebran Bassil issued a string of new demands as the discussions were reaching a conclusion.

Talks have been complicated by Bassil’s call to link the vote law to “a political agreement” confirming parity between Muslims and Christians in constitutional texts as well as the establishment of a Senate as stipulated by the 1989 Taif Accord. Bassil is also reportedly demanding that the number of Parliament members be reduced from 128 to 108 in line with the Taif Accord, arguing that the extra 20 seats were added after the 1989 at the request of Syria – the main power broker in Lebanon at the time – to consolidate its grip over the country. This is in addition to demanding that Lebanese expatriates be granted six parliamentary seats.

Sources said that the representation of expats in the Parliament is one of the issues that still prevents an agreement on a law.

Both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, which is led by Berri, reject Bassil’s allocation of six parliamentary seats Lebanese expatriates.

“This is not likely,” Berri said. “They are suggesting six [seats] and if the conditions are there, then there is nothing that prevents it from being more than that. But as for reducing the number of lawmakers, this is impossible and we will not agree with that.”

As for the ongoing issue of shifting seats, Berri said that he agreed on Hariri’s acceptance to move a Christian seat from one of Beirut’s mostly Muslim neighborhoods to the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafieh. But he said he opposed shifting Tripoli’s Maronite seat to Batroun.

Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad expressed optimism over reaching a new vote law.

“For those who are waiting for a new vote law, this law will come out. And we think that there is no point in going backwards,” Raad said at an event in south Lebanon Saturday. “All of those who are discussing the details, it is of their interest to offer concessions to hold elections based on a new law, whose main points were agreed on.”

Lebanese Forces deputy head MP George Adwan said Sunday that there was no solution except to endorse a new electoral law.

Speaking to local MTV Channel, Adwan confirmed that one of the points of disagreement centered on whether the preferential vote should be on the district or electoral constituency.

“The preferential vote can’t overthrow the law,” he said noting that the LF wants the preferential vote based on the electoral constituency.

Adwan also said that a meeting between Aoun and Berri is expected soon, adding that once a vote law had been passed, elections would be held within six to nine months.