BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday that endorsing a new vote law in time for the upcoming parliamentary elections was at the top of the government’s priorities, while totally ruling out a new extension of Parliament’s tenure.

Hariri’s remarks, made during a Cabinet session he chaired at the Grand Serail, were apparently intended to respond to some blocs that are implicitly working to keep the controversial 1960 majoritarian system in place ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled in May. They also came a day after President Michel Aoun vowed to hold the elections under a new vote system, in the clearest and strongest signal of his opposition to the 1960 law.

In the meantime, Parliament kicked off the first round of a two-day legislative session during which lawmakers approved more than 20 draft laws during morning and evening sessions.

The Cabinet and Parliament sessions on the same day signaled the reactivation of the executive and legislative branches of power following a prolonged paralysis.

“I confirm that the priority of the government is to hold parliamentary elections, and we have no intention or desire to extend Parliament’s tenure,” Hariri said during the Cabinet session, which discussed 32 items on its agenda, a statement read to reporters by Information Minister Melhem Riachi said.

“All the political parties represented in the government should translate this approach, just as they should agree on producing a new electoral law that adopts unified standards that ensure equal representation,” he added.

Hariri’s statement, which effectively backed Aoun’s stance on a new vote law, comes amid an escalating row among the rival factions over what an electoral system to adopt for the May elections.

Lebanese parties are at odds over adopting a proportional vote law, or a hybrid electoral law that includes aspects of the proportional and winner-take-all systems to replace the 1960 formula that was used in the last parliamentary elections in 2009. In a reversal of course, MP Walid Jumblatt said Tuesday he rejected a hybrid vote law based on proportional representation, while renewing his support for the 1960 system.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, said Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc will not accept the 1960 law or a new extension of Parliament’s mandate, which has been extended twice in 2013 and 2014.

Riachi said the Cabinet approved all 32 items on the agenda but again postponed discussions on the country’s potential offshore oil and gas reserves for the second time in a row until next Wednesday’s session to be held under Aoun at Baabda Palace.

The ministers were supposed to discuss the amendment of the financial system of the six-member Petroleum Administration, which is mainly tasked with overseeing the licensing of the offshore oil and gas exploration. The Cabinet has approved two crucial decrees that allow Lebanon to begin offshore oil and gas exploration.

Riachi also said that the ministerial environmental committee was serious in discussing alternatives and solutions for the garbage crisis and the country’s aviation safety.

On other topics, Hariri praised the “Conference for Peace in the Middle East” held in Paris last week, saying it reaffirmed the two-state solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“It is the solution that Israel is working to scuttle. This is an achievement for the French diplomacy and the stances of President Francois Holland were frank and courageous,” Hariri said. “We reiterate that there is no solution except on the basis of the Arab peace initiative which was adopted in Beirut [in 2002] and the establishment of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

He lashed out at the Israeli settlement policy, saying it is aimed at imposing a “fait accompli” that undermines any peace process.

“Lebanon will always adhere to Arab unanimity and the full rights of the Palestinian brothers, especially the right of return,” Hariri said. “We will always remain against their resettlement in Lebanon, in accordance with our Constitution.”

Earlier in the day, a five-member delegation from Jumblatt’s Democratic Gathering bloc met with Aoun at the start of a tour of political leaders to explain the position of the bloc and the Progressive Socialist Party on ongoing contacts to agree on a new electoral law.

“If the criterion [over a vote law] is to serve sects and true representation, we hope that the honorable Druze community’s view will be taken into account. We insist on partnership and diversity in the mountains and in Lebanon based on the great historic [Maronite-Druze] reconciliation we concluded with our partners in the mountains under the sponsorship of [former Maronite] Patriarch Sfeir,” MP Ghazi Aridi told reporters after the meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace.

Meanwhile, Parliament approved during morning and evening sessions more than 20 draft laws dealing mainly with financial, social and educational matters, including cooperation agreements between Lebanon and other countries.

However, Parliament’s 73-item agenda did not include the 2017 draft state budget or an electoral law. Parliament will meet again in two sessions Thursday to continue discussion on the remaining topics on the agenda.

Only 65 lawmakers attended the morning session, just enough to secure a quorum. Hariri and some Cabinet ministers were also present.

Some draft laws were sent back to joint parliamentary committees for further study. In the evening session, Hariri demanded sending back to the government a draft law for the approval of additional allocations to repay cash advance from the state treasury.

While Parliament was in session, a group of tenants gathered on Riad al-Solh Square to call on lawmakers to revoke a rental law that they say has resulted in forced evictions and unfair rental cost increases. The controversial rent law that was approved by Parliament in April 2014 will affect approximately 200,000 apartments – mostly in Beirut and its suburbs – which are governed under the old rent law that was in effect prior to 1992.