By daily Star Lebanon

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s majoritarian parliamentary election system
diminishes Druze representation in the country, said Democratic Party
leader Talal Arslan Friday. “Druze can only elect two lawmakers
out of eight by their votes based on the 1960 [electoral] while the
remaining six are elected by our partners from other sects,” Arslan told
reporters after meeting with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda
Palace. A proportional voting system “achieves justice and correct representation,” he added. The makeup of electoral constituencies should “soothe the concerns of all groups,” he continued. Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt’s bloc has called for an amended version of the 1960 majoritarian electoral law.

Lebanese factions are sharply divided over the characteristics of a new law to govern parliamentary elections set for May. “I respect Jumblatt’s opinion and the PSP approach… but our different positions are clear and explicit,” Arslan said. President
Michel Aoun said Friday that his efforts for a new electoral law are
intended to enable minorities’ representation in Parliament. “This is how we achieve justice,” he said. “No
[party] seeks to eliminate others because we believe that if we lose
one component–political or social–we abolish the Lebanese character of
existence,” Aoun said, and added that his proposals are compatible with
the Taif Accord that ended of Lebanon’s Civil War. Aoun has
previously threatened to exercise his “constitutional prerogatives” if
rival parties fail to agree on a fair electoral law soon. The president
also pledged not to hold elections under the 1960 law, threatening to
put a new voting system to a popular referendum if rivals deadlock over
an electoral law agreemen