Electoral Law on Hot Debate, Jumblatt Rejects Proportionality
All Lebanese political and economic files are to be transferred to after the Easter Holidays.
However, some titles still impose themselves on the internal agenda as hot topics.
Gov't's Meeting:
On the political level, the government met Tuesday in a session that lasted six hours to discuss an agenda of 62 items.
According to Lebanese papers, Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the ministers at the beginning of the session to prepare all the files that the MPs will address during a parliamentary session to assess the government's performance on 17-19 April.
"The sessions would be an opportunity [for the government] to shed the light on the accomplishments it carried out," Mikati told the ministers.
Moreover, Mikati assured that the cabinet was determined to approve appointments, especially in the administrative, diplomatic and judicial fields, in order to set the wheel of public administration into motion.
"Despite the difficulties encountered by this issue, we are determined to approve successive batches of these appointments in the coming sessions with a view to finalizing them as soon as possible," Information Minister Walid Daouq quoted Mikati as saying.
"Most important is commitment to the criteria of science, specialization, competence and merits," he added.
The government also approved a bill on the installation of high-voltage electricity lines in the North Metn towns of Mansourieh and Ain Saadeh.
"The government approved paying compensations to owners of houses that will be affected by the installation of the [electricity] link in Mansourieh-Metn," Daouq informed.
On another level, the council of ministers gave the green light to make the internet services free between midnight and 7 am.
The 50th governmental session also witnessed a debate on the request from the social affairs ministry to allocate LL100 to the Syrian refugees.
In parallel, the electoral law discussions heated the political debate ahead of 2013 parliamentary elections.
Electoral Law: Early Heat
In this context, House Speaker Nabih Berri lashed out at "March 14" forces for refusing an electoral law based on proportionality.
"An-Nahar" Lebanese daily reported that Berri's visitors quoted him as saying: "Most of "March 14" figures want to stick to the 1960 law because it enables them to have the majority of the seats... they don't want to change and develop the country."
"The adoption of an electoral law based on proportionality "has been my ambition for a while," Berri stated, hailing the "Change and Reform Bloc Head" MP Michel Aoun's recent comments in which he declared that he prefers an electoral law based on a single district.
After the weekly meeting of his bloc, Aoun commented on the "National Struggle Front Leader" MP Walid Jumblatt's refusal to proportionality by confirming:
"We don't want to limit the representation of any side, however if that side's political weight is small, we don't want it to be taking a greater parliamentary share than it deserves."
On the electricity file, Aoun stated that "a final agreement with companies on leasing power-generating vessels has not been reached yet."
"PM Mikati is responsible for any delay in the electricity file," he stressed pointing out that "a single delay will take place at the expense of pumping electricity into the Lebanese power grid."
For his part, MP Jumbaltt reiterated his commitment to 1960's electoral law rejecting the proportionality until it's accompanied by a non sectarian parliament and a Senate.
In an interview with "al-Akhbar" Lebanese daily, the MP unveiled that his electoral list in the Chouf region would be incomplete.
"There are two Christian powers in Chouf, the "Free Patriotic Movement" and the "Lebanese Forces"," he explained hoping that "the two sides reach an agreement on a common name."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed to "al-Mustaqbal" newspaper that he was behind the resumption of discussions on the electoral law for the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections.
"We are running out of time to accomplish the logistic, technical and security preparations in order to ensure a successful process," he told the daily.
He further urged "the officials to agree on an electoral law before an 8-month period or a year utmost," stressing that "the elections will go on as scheduled in 2013 unless a security situation forces its delay."
New Rent Law: New Scandal?
On another level, "as-Safir" newspaper concentrated on the new rent law to be discussed in the parliament describing it as "homelessness law".
"There are around 140,000 old renting contracts that go back to before 1998s," it added.
Sources informed the same newspaper that "the project which is being studied by the parliamentary committee of Administration and Justice would flee large numbers of people into the streets."
Source: Lebanese newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
