Now Lebanon - Wahhab calls for discussing new electoral law, October 4, 2011

Tawhid Arab Party leader Wiam Wahhab on Tuesday called on the government to discuss the electoral law as soon as possible, the National News Agency reported.

“I met [earlier in the day] with President Michel Sleiman and I am relieved that he insists on proportionality,” Wahhab said following his meeting with former Prime Minister Omar Karami.

Lebanese parties are debating a new electoral law for the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections.  After the parliament agreed on drafting a law based on proportional representation, some parties rejected the draft law and called for renewing the 2009 electoral law, which is based on simple majority representation.

Wahhab also said that “he addressed with Karami the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” which is probing the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri.

“We still insist on our position, and I do not know what Prime Minister Najib Mikati relied on to announce all these [commitments] to the STL, because[March 8 parties] refuse funding the STL.”

The UN-backed tribunal is funded by an assortment of donor countries from around the world as well as Lebanon. However, Hezbollah and other March 8 parties and figures – in particular Aoun -  have spoken out against Lebanon’s ties and funding for the tribunal and called it a tool to incite sectarian strife in Lebanon.

Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.

Regarding the developments in Syria, Wahhab said that “the situation in Syria is reassuring and that the country has overcome the crisis and there is no risk [the regime] will fall.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,700 people, according to the UN Human Rights Council.

Lebanon's political scene is split between supporters of Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah, and a pro-Western camp headed by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

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