BEIRUT: The Progressive Socialist Party head Monday met with a delegation of Hezbollah officials in Beirut.
MP Walid Jumblatt met senior Hezbollah officials Hajj Hussein Khalil and Wafiq Safa, a statement by PSP media office said.
The meeting was held in Jumblatt’s residence in the Clemenceau district of Beirut and was attended by Jumblatt’s son Aslan, and MPs Ghazi Aridi, Akram Chehayeb and Wael Abou Faour.
Neither of the two rival parties has provided any further details on the meeting.
Despite recent breakthroughs in the presidential election and the new government formation, 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.
Hezbollah officials have been recently lobbying for a proportional electoral law.
Jumblatt, Future and Lebanese Forces support the hybrid system.
Parliamentary elections were supposed to be held in 2013 and 2014, but were postponed over security concerns.
Siniora grants the new Cabinet confidence
BEIRUT: Future bloc head Fouad Siniora Monday spoke in support of the new Cabinet, the National News Agency said.
“I grant the current government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri my absolute confidence ... all Future MPs will support and endorse the government,” Siniora was quoted saying in a statement carried by the NNA.
The Former minister also hoped the government would commit to its promises.
Lebanon’s new Cabinet was announced on Dec. 18 after 45 days of deliberations among political parties.
The policy statement was drafted Saturday, three days after the ministerial committee’s first meeting.
The Cabinet promised to strengthen diplomatic relations with Arab and other foreign countries and to drive the economy towards stability.
Siniora said he will not attend the confidence vote sessions, as he will be travelling abroad.
The three-day parliamentary sessions will start Tuesday morning.
New hybrid vote law within reach: LF official
BEIRUT: A new hybrid electoral law is at hand and could be endorsed in the upcoming few days, Lebanese Forces deputy chief George Adwan said Monday.
He pointed out that contacts among rival factions to reach a new electoral system had made great progress.
The LF completely rejects the 1960 electoral law and will combat it, the lawmaker vowed in remarks to LBCI.
Political powers remain at odds over drafting an alternative electoral law to govern next year’s parliamentary elections.
Lebanese parties are divided between adopting a proportional vote law, or a hybrid electoral law that includes aspects of the proportional and winner-takes-all systems. The current 1960 winner-takes-all system, which was used in the last elections in 2009, divides constituencies based on administrative districts.
"For the past five years, the LF has been in an open battle regarding the vote law, because it paves way for the reconfiguration of authority," Adwan said.
He warned against staging the upcoming parliamentary elections according to the 1960 system, saying it would be considered a failure for President Michel Aoun's term in office.
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