By Hasan Lakkis, Wassim Mroueh 

The Daily Star

 

The Future Movement bloc meeting Tuesday. (The Daily Star/Dalati Nohra/HO)

 

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement agreed on a hybrid electoral law Tuesday, in a bid to avert a split within the March 14 camp over the controversial Orthodox Gathering proposal, which is on the agenda for Wednesday’s Parliament session.

 

But speaking to The Daily Star, sources from Kataeb voiced opposition to the districting scheme in the proposed electoral law, saying it was unfair to the party’s supporters.

 

Kataeb MP Fadi Haber said contacts were ongoing with the party’s March 14 allies to achieve consensus.

 

“MPs from our party decided to attend tomorrow’s [Wednesday’s] session. But if we agree with our March 14 allies on a hybrid law, then it will be a priority [over the Orthodox proposal],” he said.

 

The sources said caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil met Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel and the party’s MP Sami Gemayel at Kataeb Headquarters in Beirut to urge the party to stick to its stance supporting the Orthodox proposal. Bassil is the son-in-law of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

 

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, from Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, said his group backed the hybrid voting system that the Future Movement and the LF finally agreed on.

 

Lebanese Forces sources said contacts intensified over the past two days between former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and LF leader Samir Geagea, leading to an agreement over a new hybrid electoral law.

 

Under the proposal, 45 percent of MPs would be elected on the basis of proportional representation and 55 percent under a winner-takes-all system.

 

The country would be divided into six governorates under the proportional representation system and 27 districts under the winner-takes-all scheme. MPs who attended a meeting of March 8 officials chaired by Speaker Nabih Berri said he would likely adjourn Wednesday’s Parliament session if Future Movement and PSP MPs did not attend – even if a quorum was achieved.

 

The MPs said Berri planned to begin consultations to reach consensus over the electoral law after the session. But the sources said that if an agreement was not viable, Berri could put the Orthodox proposal to a vote later on.

 

Berri urged all groups to assume their responsibilities, stressing that he would make the appropriate decision Wednesday in light of developments.

 

The LF sources said March 14 parties might announce their agreement on the draft hybrid law at a news conference at Parliament one hour before the session is slated to start. A March 14 delegation would then inform Berri about the accord.

 

Speaking to a local media outlet, LF leader Samir Geagea hailed the agreement as “a great victory for fair representation and the spirit of consensus.”

 

But FPM leader Michel Aoun urged all parties who supported the Orthodox proposal to stick to it when it is put to a vote. He said the new hybrid law was merely “a masked 1960 law.”

 

The Future bloc said Tuesday that it would not attend Wednesday’s session, describing the Orthodox proposal as a crime against Lebanon.

 

“The Future bloc announces it will not participate in a session to approve a law that will divide Lebanon and take it back to the era of degeneration and sectarian divide,” the bloc said in a statement.

 

It also called on other MPs to follow suit and refrain from endorsing “the assassination of Lebanon.”

 

Referring to Berri’s move, the bloc said: “Insisting on proposing the Orthodox Gathering law as the sole item on the session’s agenda ... serves as a blow to the principle of coexistence and contradicts the Taif Accord as it paves the way for a crime to be committed against its people.”

 

Berri’s behavior, the bloc said, went against the norm and the internal regulations of Parliament.

 

MP Akram Shehayeb, from the PSP, confirmed Tuesday after a meeting with caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel that his group would also boycott the Parliament session. “We refuse to approve in Parliament what the [Lebanese] Civil War failed to endorse,” Shehayeb said, referring to the Orthodox proposal.

 

Batroun MP Butros Harb, representing independent Christians allied with the March 14 coalition, warned against “imposing the Orthodox Gathering law in Parliament” and said lawmakers were consulting with their March 14 allies on whether to carry out a boycott.

Separately, Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam discussed government formation efforts with President Michel Sleiman at Baabda Palace. – With additional reporting by Dana Khraiche