(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By Farah Al-Faraj
BEIRUT, Oct 10 (KUNA) -- Lebanon's parliament last June approved a new electoral parliamentary law, namely the proportional representation instead of the majority voting system, which lasted for decades in the country.
Political forces managed to reach a consensus on the law, which will be implemented for the first time in the country next May. It divides the nation into 15 constituencies, two in Beirut Governorate and 13 others in several districts across the country.
Speaking to KUNA, former speaker of parliament Hussein Al-Husseini said the new law made a positive step to reform the electoral system in Lebanon, stressing that the proportional representation system is the best if it is implemented properly.
He referred in this regard that the parliament plays a key role in Lebanon as it a parliamentary democratic republic in accordance with the constitution.
The new law will lead to a wide representation of the participating segments, comparing with the plurality voting system, he said.
Proportional representation will produce a majority, which means the government, and little opposition, he explained, indicating this will allow to implement the separation of powers and help new forces get seats in the parliament.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of Lebanese Forces Party Chantal Sarkis told KUNA that the new law would pave the way for different representation of all segments and achieve more justice for voters.
Technical details of the law will not affect voting as each voter shall choose one of the competing lists and shall be entitled to cast one preferential vote for a candidate of the same list he had chosen.
She indicated that there are big difficulties in terms of issuing biometric IDs before holding the scheduled elections next May, called for using the current elections IDs.
For his part, Omar Kabboul, executive director of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, told KUNA that the new law may make changes in some constituencies through the success of candidates who don't belong to traditional parties.
He called for using the current IDs to hold elections as planned and not waiting for the issuance of biometric ones as time is not enough to issue about 3.8 million IDs before polls slated for May 2018.
Candidates shall form lists at least 40 days prior to elections day. The lists shall comply with the seat allocation to electoral constituencies, as well as with the confessional and religious distribution of these seats.
The number of seats won by each list shall be determined based on the electoral quotient.
The remaining vacant seats would be allocated to qualified lists that obtained the largest remainder of the votes left after the first division. (end) ff.hm
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