Geagea calls for adopting the hybrid electoral law

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geagea on MTVLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called Monday for adopting the proposed hybrid electoral law as the solution for the upcoming parliamentary election , stressing that this will allow the Lebanese factions to meet halfway

“We will end up with a hybrid electoral law, half of which is based on the winner-takes-all electoral system and the other half on proportional representation, and this is what we are working on together with the other parties because it’s a solution that satisfies the vast majority of factions ,” Geagea said in an interview with Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath television.

“We and our allies have a lot of proposals on the table and will never accept an extension of the current parliament’s term or parliamentary elections under the 1960 law,” Geagea stressed,

President Michel Aoun’s ally , the Iranian backed Hezbollah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially the Future Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party’s controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party has clout.In 2013 Lebanese Forces and The Future Movement backed by the PSP agreed on a hybrid electoral law which calls for 54% of the MPs to be elected under the majoritarian winner-takes-all system and 46 % under the proportional representation system. This draft law was rejected by the Hezbollah-led March 8 opposition.

Also in 2013 Future Movement leader PM Saad Hariri rejected the electoral law that is based on proportional representation because there will be competition in some regions, but there cannot be any competition in other regions, because of the presence of Hezbollah weapons in them.

Hariri was referring to the 2009 election in the areas dominated by Hezbollah. According to the reports that surfaced back then Hezbollah gunmen prevented their rivals from voting and the results of the election showed it. On the other hand in the March 14 dominated areas several Hezbollah backed candidates won the election that was based on winner-takes- all system . In a proportional representation system Hezbollah will be able to gain more seats in the March 14 dominated areas but will not lose any seats in its dominated areas as long as it is allowed to keep its arms and use them internally for political gain .

The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.

The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.

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2 responses to “Geagea calls for adopting the hybrid electoral law”

  1. Can’t win when negotiating from a position of weakness – Hezbtizee negotiates (intimidates) with guns – talk won’t stop their bullets!

  2. Sadly, Lebanon’s Christians blew their (probably) last chance of getting their country back by putting their trust in Emperor Michel the Senile and his cronies. At this point, talk is not just cheap, but almost useless.

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