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Siniora , LF, Rai discuss a hybrid electoral law

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patriarch rai w sinioraThe Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement have reached an agreement on a new law for the upcoming elections.

“There is a new mixed electoral law… We and The Future Movement have agreed on,” LF bloc MP George Adwan told MTV on Sunday.

His remarks came after he and former PM and Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora met with Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rai in Bkirki in order to discuss the electoral law they agreed on.

“We have made great progress in expressing the desire we are insisting on, which is holding the elections, and we hope we will reach a hybrid law that mixes the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems,” Siniora said after talks with the Maronite Patriarch .

“Things cannot take any further postponement and the Lebanese have no interest in extending the crisis,” Siniora added.

“We share almost identical viewpoints with Future Movement and other parties must meet us halfway like al-Mustaqbal did,” Adwan said.

According to media reports Future lawmakers and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumbaltt started elaborating a new mixed electoral proposal that will be based on majoritarian voting in 26 districts and proportional voting in 9 other districts. This is supposed to serve as an alternative to the current 1960 law, which has been rejected by the majority of the Lebanese except Jumblatt.

Rai

Rai expressed hope on Sunday that there would be consensus among the Lebanese on a fair electoral law and on the formation of the new government.

“I hope that the coming days would bring consensus on a new electoral law that is fair … and guarantees for all the citizens the best representation in parliament,” said Rai in his sermon during a mass attended by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and members of his Change and Reform bloc.

Rai also hoped for consensus on “the type” of the government and its formation, a day after MP Tammam Salam was tasked with forming the new cabinet.

Salam said Saturday he would do his best to form a “national interest government,” a process that could take time because of the sharp divisions between the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the March 14 coalition.

Rai telephoned Salam on Saturday night to wish him success. He also hoped for a swift cabinet formation, said the state-run National News Agency.

Rai, who travels to France on Monday for talks with top officials, said o Sunday that he would later visit the Lebanese expatriates in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Colombia. From there he will head to to Rome and return to Lebanon end of May.

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Comments

14 responses to “Siniora , LF, Rai discuss a hybrid electoral law”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    One can always hope … I suppose … maybe something ‘for the people’ instead of just the ‘talking heads’.
    If ‘the people’ get HALF a chance to begin to make a difference in a form of government which could represent THEM as a country – in a democratic process – they better take it to heart and show up at the polls for a change. At least vote for the guy who has a real electrical plan, and some real cell&internet communication ideas too. (maybe without the spying slowing it down? 😉
    Let’s hope Rai gets ‘Filled In’ by expats ….

    1. dateam Avatar
      dateam

      This is the scenario 5th…everyone wants a formula that gaurantees them votes…here in lies the problem….if you analyse both sides carefully you will find that the biggest headache is for m14… see with m8 they seem to have an agreement…eg aoun and hzb signed a memorandum and between them they have a large number where their votes are for each other and they dont seem to have an issue and seem to be in agreeance on who gets what…on the m14 side you have a situation where they want to create a false majority because with the winner takes all system gagea and gmayell have to wait on hariri to give them seats?( are they willing to do that? dont forget they agreed to the orthodox proposal??) Then you have the situation in the north where you have amongst the sunnis almost a 4 way tussle between hariri,mikati,karami,and the salafis who seem to be gaining more ground especially in the current climate….this hybrid system that seems to be discussed is going to be interesting because i think it will be a mixture of winner takes all in some areas and proportional in some ( dont qoute me on that i dont know enough yet )….so who gets proportional and who gets winner takes all is the big question….thers seems to be too many zaems around and not enough seats especially if under tammam we have a 10:10:10 formula….stay tuned….

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    One can always hope … I suppose … maybe something ‘for the people’ instead of just the ‘talking heads’.
    If ‘the people’ get HALF a chance to begin to make a difference in a form of government which could represent THEM as a country – in a democratic process – they better take it to heart and show up at the polls for a change. At least vote for the guy who has a real electrical plan, and some real cell&internet communication ideas too. (maybe without the spying slowing it down? 😉

    1. dateam Avatar
      dateam

      This is the scenario 5th…everyone wants a formula that gaurantees them votes…here in lies the problem….if you analyse both sides carefully you will find that the biggest headache is for m14… see with m8 they seem to have an agreement…eg aoun and hzb signed a memorandum and between them they have a large number where their votes are for each other and they dont seem to have an issue and seem to be in agreeance on who gets what…on the m14 side you have a situation where they want to create a false majority because with the winner takes all system gagea and gmayell have to wait on hariri to give them seats?( are they willing to do that? dont forget they agreed to the orthodox proposal??) Then you have the situation in the north where you have amongst the sunnis almost a 4 way tussle between hariri,mikati,karami,and the salafis who seem to be gaining more ground especially in the current climate….this hybrid system that seems to be discussed is going to be interesting because i think it will be a mixture of winner takes all in some areas and proportional in some ( dont qoute me on that i dont know enough yet )….so who gets proportional and who gets winner takes all is the big question….thers seems to be too many zaems around and not enough seats especially if under tammam we have a 10:10:10 formula….stay tuned….

  3. Constantin7 Avatar
    Constantin7

    Keep this electoral law simple.
    Maybe the Orthodox Agreement is too sectarian, but it is fair to everybody. Lebanon is already very sectarian with or without the Orthodox agreement, I would just change it to Christians voting for christians and Muslims sects voting for Muslim sects. Like that the christians would vote their own representatives and so would the muslims.
    I don’t believe in complicated methods. Lebanon is very sectarian already whether we like it or not, so go with the flow and get an adjusted Orthodox Agreement where christians vote for christians, sunni for sunni, shiaa for shiaa, druze for druze and alawite for alawite, because the problem is between muslims and christians and between muslims and muslims, the problem is not between chrisitans and christians. Like that the christians are appeased and the muslims sects would vote their own re[resentatives. I don’t think that an orthodox minds voting a for maronite, or vice versa, and the same for all christian sects, but a sunni would mind voting for shiaa, and a shiaa would mind voting for a sunni, so would an alawite and so would a druze.
    Just my thoughts on this never ending debate….

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Well then, it might as well be 18 little countries, trying to make ‘trade deals’ between each other … AND with Israel. 😉 But ‘Airportland’ would need to be Protestant for sure. 🙂

    2. Prophettttt Avatar
      Prophettttt

      I would adopt The Orthodox gathering electoral system proposal IF secularism is considered a sect whereby non-sectarians are allowed to pick their own representatives. I think that would be fair for everyone.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Sounds right, Prophet, but Hezzys might end up with less than 2 seats in that event, this time. 😉 And imagine the rhetoric then !! :-)))

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          It’s just fine with me. If this ever happened, this new sect would beat all parties. No wonder why they are all scared of secularism.

  4. Constantin7 Avatar
    Constantin7

    Keep this electoral law simple.
    Maybe the Orthodox Agreement is too sectarian, but it is fair to everybody. Lebanon is already very sectarian with or without the Orthodox agreement, I would just change it to Christians voting for christians and Muslims sects voting for Muslim sects. Like that the christians would vote their own representatives and so would the muslims.
    I don’t believe in complicated methods. Lebanon is very sectarian already whether we like it or not, so go with the flow and get an adjusted Orthodox Agreement where christians vote for christians, sunni for sunni, shiaa for shiaa, druze for druze and alawite for alawite, because the problem is between muslims and christians and between muslims and muslims, the problem is not between chrisitans and christians. Like that the christians are appeased and the muslims sects would vote their own re[resentatives. I don’t think that an orthodox minds voting a for maronite, or vice versa, and the same for all christian sects, but a sunni would mind voting for shiaa, and a shiaa would mind voting for a sunni, so would an alawite and so would a druze.
    Just my thoughts on this never ending debate….

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Well then, it might as well be 18 little countries, trying to make ‘trade deals’ between each other … AND with Israel. 😉 But ‘Airportland’ would need to be Protestant for sure. 🙂

    2. Prophettttt Avatar
      Prophettttt

      I would adopt The Orthodox gathering electoral system proposal IF secularism is considered a sect whereby non-sectarians are allowed to pick their own representatives. I think that would be fair for everyone.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Sounds right, Prophet, but Hezzys might end up with less than 2 seats in that event this time. 😉

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          It’s just fine with me. If this ever happened, this new sect would beat all parties. No wonder why they are all scared of secularism.

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