by Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer Gulf News

Beirut: Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri stressed that he
will not accept a third extension of parliament’s term, that elections
will be held at all costs, and warned of “public outrage” if current
efforts by the joint parliamentary committees failed to agree on a new
electoral law to replace the 1960 voting system.

Berri told his weekly
meeting with selected lawmakers that gather every Wednesday at his Ain
Al Tineh residence that citizens will be outraged if no agreement is
reached on a new law, and renewed his “absolute rejection” of yet
another extension under any pretext, although he issued similar notices
in the past.

Whether the Speaker’s
pledge was etched in stone was difficult to determine even if his
admonition of the joint parliamentary committees’ work, which failed to
agree on an alternative law yet again after what was universally
acknowledged to be eternal negotiations, seemed genuine. He told
parliamentarians sitting in his living room: “There is a waste of time,
which is not innocent nor acceptable,” because some lawmakers wished to
“deliberately bring the 1960 law back into effect”.

The highly controversial
1960 law, which called for electoral districts to be based on the qadas
(constituents) system and that was last used in 2009, granted winners
all seats in each and every district (there were 26 such districts in
the qadas). Under discussion were several alternatives, though Deputy
Parliament Speaker Farid Makari, who chaired deliberations, insisted
that the best law would be a hybrid system, equidistant between those
who insisted on proportional representation and those who called for
majority rule.

Leading Christian
parties complained that the 1960 law prevented true representation in
parliament, though it was unclear whether the most recent municipal
polls altered existing calculations, especially after establishment
parties recorded significant losses in favour of civil society
movements.

For now, and according to Makari, deliberations concentrated on two
hybrid proposals, one presented by Berri’s bloc and the other put
forward by the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive
Socialist Party.

A follow-up meeting was
scheduled for June 22, postponed by a single day to occur after the 19th
national dialogue session, now set for June 21. Few were optimistic
that existing disagreements between rival political powers could be
resolved on either June 21 or 22.

Parliamentarians
extended their own terms in office first in 2013, and a second time in
2014, with their current term ostensibly ending in June 2017. Assuming
that six months were required to organise elections, Lebanese
politicians enjoyed a short half-a-year window of opportunity to reach
consensus on a new electoral law.