BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri warned Sunday of dire consequences on a new electoral law entailed by a further delay in the formation of a government, as Hezbollah offered to cooperate with rival factions to speed up its formation.

While Hezbollah played down major hurdles hindering the formation of a new government, sources in the Future Movement ruled out an imminent solution to the Cabinet formation, citing remaining differences over the representation of two rival Christian parties, the Lebanese Forces and the Marada Movement.

In his most serious warning to date against marking time since former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was charged with forming a new Cabinet on Nov. 3, Berri underlined the importance of quickly forming a new government so that it can concentrate on drafting a new voting system to replace the controversial 1960 majoritarian law ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.

Speaking to visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence, Berri said he has not been informed of any new development in the past two days about the efforts to overcome obstacles hindering the formation of a government.

The speaker stressed the need to speed up the formation of a new government with the aim of devoting its time to draft an electoral law.

“After a month from now, it will be very difficult to draft a new election law and hold parliamentary elections on its basis,” Berri was quoted as saying. He voiced fears that “some internal parties,” might be exerting pressure to impose the 1960 law as “a fait accompli.”

“Any such thing will put the political class in a confrontation with the overwhelming majority of the Lebanese which has declared its rejection of the 1960 law, according to the results of an opinion poll,” Berri said.

He added that his parliamentary Development and Liberation bloc, as well as Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, and Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc agree on a fundamental common ground: The necessity to draft a new electoral law to achieve fair representation.

“Any law is better than the 1960 law which does not befit the aspirations of the Lebanese for a fair and comprehensive representation in Parliament,” Berri said.

Tensions have arisen among the rival parties over ministerial portfolio distribution, the number of ministries in the new Cabinet, and a voting system to replace the 1960s law.

Despite recent breakthroughs in the presidential election and the Cabinet designation, political powers remain at odds over drafting an electoral law to govern parliamentary elections scheduled in May 2017.

Lebanese parties are divided between adopting a proportional vote law, or a hybrid electoral law that includes aspects of the proportional and winner-take-all systems.The current 1960 winner-take-all system, which was used in the last elections in 2009, divides the constituencies based on administrative districts.

As Hariri’s mission to set up a national accord government enters this week its first month with no solution in sight, Hezbollah’s deputy head Sheikh Naim Qassem said there was no reason for further delaying the Cabinet formation.

“The most difficult phase [presidential election] has passed and the designation [of a prime minister] has taken place. The obstacles facing the [Cabinet] formation are not substantial,” Qassem said in a speech during a ceremony in the Mount Lebanon town of Qmatieh commemorating 40 days since the death of a Hezbollah commander, killed in fighting Syrian rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

“Frankly, [the Cabinet formation] requires some flexibility and its outcome will be positive to everyone. There is no reason for delaying the Cabinet formation. We can cooperate to reach the [Cabinet] formation at the earliest time for the benefit of the people,” he said.

Qassem emphasized that Hezbollah would spare no efforts to help in the rise and building of the state. “We are not seeking to achieve personal or individual gains to compensate for financial or political losses. We are seeking to finish [the Cabinet formation] to serve the people and protect the country,” he said.

The Cabinet formation process was put on hold over the weekend because Hariri was preoccupied with the Future Movement’s two-day general conference held at the BIEL complex.

While Nader Hariri, chief of Hariri’s staff, who represents the premier-designate in the negotiations over the Cabinet formation, has returned from a foreign trip, caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement who is representing President Michel Aoun in these negotiations, is currently on a weeklong tour of Latin America.

“When Bassil returns to Beirut, contacts will be resumed to iron out the remaining snags facing the Cabinet formation,” a Future Movement source told The Daily Star.

Nevertheless, the source sounded pessimistic about an early solution to the Cabinet formation crisis. “I don’t see a quick solution to the Cabinet formation problem due to the continuing hurdles over who gets what key ministerial portfolios,” the source said.

“The Lebanese Forces are demanding the Public Works Ministry, in addition to other portfolios, the Marada Movement is insisting on being allotted one of the three portfolios: Telecommunications, Energy, and Public Works ministries, and Speaker Nabih Berri is insisting on retaining the Finance and Public Works ministries to his bloc,” the source said.

He said the Marada Movement, headed by MP Sleiman Frangieh, has rejected offers for the Education or Culture ministries.

The source added that the delay in the Cabinet formation reflected “tacit tension” between Aoun and Berri. He ruled out the possibility of Aoun and Hariri imposing “a fait accompli government” if the hurdles were not eliminated. “Both President Aoun and Prime Minister Hariri want a national unity government, embracing all the political parties,” the source said.

A Future bloc MP warned that Lebanon could descend again into political deadlock similar to that of the presidential vacuum if rival politicians did not cooperate to facilitate the formation of a new government.

“We hope that our fears are not justified and a government will be formed very soon,” MP Jean Ogassapian told the Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3). “The distribution of [ministerial] shares does not need much time. But the obstruction today has a bigger dimension: bringing the situation in Lebanon back to what it was during the presidential vacuum.”