Aoun confirmed that Hezbollah avoiding 2013 elections

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Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun indirectly confirmed on Thursday (what March 14 officials have been claiming during the past few months ) that the Hezbollah led March 8 alliance does not want the parliamentary elections to be held in 2013 .

In an interview with LBCI TV on Kalam el Nas Aoun , a close ally of Hezbollah said the security situation in northern Lebanon did not allow holding the parliamentary elections in the country.

During the interview Aoun talked about the ongoing debate over the new electoral law and attacked the electoral draft law that was proposal by the March 14 Christian parties that would divide Lebanon into 50 electoral districts under a winner-takes-all system. He said the proposal was designed to ensure victory for the March 14 coalition in the 2013 elections, adding: ” I am against a winner-takes-all system. I reject this system.”

“The 50 district law is ugly. It calls for political districts rather than sectarian districts. It is divided to ensure victory for the March 14 parties.” Aoun said and added:

“There is a problem in the election law. If security conditions do not allow holding elections, that’s one thing, and if no agreement is reached on an election law, that’s another,” Aoun said, adding: “So far, the security situation in Akkar and Tripoli does not allow holding elections.”

Aoun was referring to the security incidents along the Lebanese-Syrian border in recent months, which resulted in the injuries and deaths of several Lebanese citizens by Syrian artillery and gunfire. Also, armed supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad have frequently clashed in Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen

MPs from the joint parliamentary committees have failed in five sessions to bridge the deep differences between the March 14 and the Hezbollah-led March 8 over which legislation best guarantees fair representation for all the parties in the 2013 elections.

The committees are discussing three proposals:

The cabinet’s draft electoral law which was approved earlier in August and which divides Lebanon into 13 medium-sized districts based on a system of proportional representation.

The March 14 proposal that would divide Lebanon into 50 small districts under a winner-takes-all-system

The so called Orthodox Gathering proposal which was forwarded by Aoun’s Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, which calls on each sect in Lebanon to vote only for its candidate in the elections based on proportional representation and one electoral district for the whole country .

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