Miqati calls for early parliamentary elections

Former PM Najib Miqati on Wednesday called for reducing the term of the current parliament and for staging early parliamentary elections. 

“The people have no more confidence in the current political class. We need to stage early parliamentary elections to facilitate the mission of the new government, now that it has gained its vote of confidence,” said Miqati in a press conference.

“I urge the Parliament to hold a meeting soon. We submitted a proposal for a parliamentary election law based on 5 districts where every voter votes within his own district with two preferential votes. Meanwhile the term of the current parliament would be shortened,” said Miqati.

Amid declarations of “no confidence” in the Cabinet over the last several weeks, the Lebanese demonstrators have been calling for early parliamentary elections, ideally under the auspices of a new, revised electoral law — a key demand of the movement since its inception last October . Demonstrators and groups seeking change have suggested several proposals for such a law since mid-January in hopes of looking beyond the Cabinet and instead striking at the fundamentals of Lebanon’s sect-based party system, which many feel has fueled decades of corruption.