BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah reaffirmed Sunday his party’s support for an electoral law based on full proportional representation, a position that is likely to further complicate efforts to agree on a new system as the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party staunchly oppose this model of voting. Nasrallah’s remarks come as the country is drawing close to the Feb. 21 deadline for the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for May 21, with rival political factions at opposite poles over what is the best voting formula to replace the controversial 1960 majoritarian law.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun is set to begin official visits to Egypt and Jordan Monday as part of a drive to boost Lebanon’s ties with Arab countries. Aoun, accompanied by the ministers of interior, finance, foreign affairs, economy and the state minister for presidency affairs, will hold talks in Cairo Monday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and other senior officials centering on bilateral relations and developments in the region before flying Tuesday to Jordan for similar talks with King Abdullah II, official sources said.

The visits to Egypt and Jordan will be Aoun’s second foreign trip since his election as president on Oct. 31 following visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar last month.

In an interview with Egypt’s CBC TV, Aoun defended Hezbollah’s arms. “As long as there is Lebanese territory occupied [by Israel], and the Lebanese Army is not strong enough to fight Israel, Hezbollah’s arms are important and an essential part to defend Lebanon,” Aoun said. He added that Hezbollah’s arms do not contradict the idea of the state.

Nasrallah urged political adversaries to agree on a new vote law soon instead of wasting time with futile discussions and “pushing the country toward the unknown and exposing it to danger.”

“The most important event today is parliamentary elections. ... With regard to an electoral law, we, in Hezbollah, along with the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement and our March 8 allies, are clear in supporting proportional representation,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech at a memorial ceremony in the eastern city of Baalbeck marking one week since the death of Sheikh Hussein Obeid, a member of Hezbollah’s Central Council. The Hezbollah chief stressed that the 1960 winner-take-all system used in the last parliamentary elections in 2009 was an “elimination law,” while a proportional vote system would give each side its full right with regard to the size of its popularity within its own electoral district.

“We want an electoral law that does not eliminate anyone. The majoritarian law is an elimination and exclusion law. Therefore, we support proportionality, irrespective of the number of [electoral] districts,” he said.

Nasrallah sought to allay fears voiced mainly by MP Walid Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc and the Future Movement over the adoption of a proportional vote law to govern the May elections.

“I tell our Druze countrymen that proportionality will not eliminate the Druze. Proportionality will not eliminate the PSP, the Future Movement, any sect, any party or any movement. Rather, this system will allow each side to be represented according to its size,” Nasrallah said. “When Hezbollah supports proportionality, it’s because it is keen on all parties, all sects and all families being represented [in Parliament].”

In a swift reaction to Nasrallah’s speech, Information Minister Melhem Riachi, one three Lebanese Forces ministers, told NBN channel Sunday night: “Proportionality will bring extremists into Parliament and we reject this. For us, the Future Movement embodies moderation.”

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was “open to any dialogue over any electoral law proposal. We will not close doors.” He added that a proposal by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government for an electoral law based on proportional representation with Lebanon divided into 13 districts was the “best for discussion.” His remarks come as government officials raced against time to reach agreement on a new vote law before the end of February, while sharp differences persisted between the opposing parties over what system to adopt to replace the 1960 formula.

Mikati Friday reiterated his support for a proportional electoral system based on large constituencies, proposed by his government in 2012. He stressed that proportional representation was the best voting formula for the Lebanese people.

However, the Future Movement rejected Mikati’s proposal because it is based on full proportionality, Future MP Ammar Houri told The Daily Star.

Houri said the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc stood firm on its support for a hybrid vote law reached with the LF and the PSP, which calls for 68 of Parliament’s 128 members to be elected on the basis of the majoritarian system and the remaining 60 under a proportional formula.

Jumblatt has ramped up his opposition to a proportional vote law by calling for the adoption of an amended version of the 1960 system, or the creation of a senate and the abolition of political confessionalism as stipulated by the 1989 Taif Accord. MPs from Jumblatt’s bloc have toured leaders of various blocs to lobby against the adoption of a proportional vote law. The PSP leader is apparently worried that a proportional vote law would deprive his 11-member bloc of some parliamentary seats in the Chouf-Aley region.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk reiterated that he was “obliged” by law to call on voters to prepare for elections ahead of the Feb. 21 deadline. Speaking to reporters after meeting with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian Saturday, Machnouk restated that if rivals agreed on a new vote law, then a “technical” delay of elections would occur to train employees and explain the new law to voters.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, said that this week was decisive for an agreement on a new electoral law which, he said, was the key to rebuilding the country and its political system. He warned that political rivals have one week to agree on a vote law before the country crosses a “deadly” deadline.

“There are many ideas concerning proportionality or a hybrid law. We have so far presented three ideas and they are all fair in terms of criteria and logic. We still have many [ideas] but the time is over,” Bassil said during a tour of Jbeil. “We are set for a decisive week when all sides put their political options on the table because after this week, we will [cross] a deadly deadline.”

Bassil said after Feb. 21, a vote law would be the responsibility of the president. “After Feb. 21, either the president and the prime minister agree that the Cabinet puts its hand on an electoral law and holds successive sessions without interruption to reach a law, or the president will call for an all-embracing tripartite, quadripartite or five-party dialogue and say he will not accept [parliamentary] vacuum, or extension [of Parliament’s term], or the 1960 law, nor taking the country to the unknown,” he said. “The country will not be put on track except through a [new] electoral law.”