The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

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May 31, 2012

The Daily Star - Bkirki committee studies, debates two electoral law proposals, May 31 2012


By Wassim Mroueh
BEIRUT: A committee of representatives of Christian parties in the country is considering an election draft law with a winner-takes-all system based on small districts.
Under the draft, some of the qadas used in the 2009 law would remain the same, while other districts would be divided to make smaller units. Another draft law being studied by the committee, which was formed by the Maronite Patriarchate, would adopt a system of proportional representation and medium-sized districts.
The committee continued discussions of the two draft laws in a meeting at Parliament Wednesday.
Albert Kostanian, a Kataeb Party politburo member, said that based on the winner-takes-all system plan, all qadas with less than four seats would “in principle” remain unchanged. But qadas having at least four seats, such as the Chouf, Metn and Aley, would be divided into smaller units.
Kostanian said that the purpose of dividing qadas was to achieve better representation. “Some big qadas do not provide fair representation,” he said. “Take Baabda, for example: The social environment in upper Baabda is different from that down on the coast.”
Kostanian said that in the coming weeks, committee members were expected to wrap up discussions of the two draft laws, which they will then present to various political groups.
Under the 1960 version of the election law, used in the 2009 polls, the administrative unit of the qada was used as the so-called “small” electoral district. The Taif Accord stipulates the larger governorate as the electoral constituency. Activists argue that the 1960 version does not yield fair representation.
Splitting the difference is Interior Minister Marwan Charbel’s proposal calling for adopting medium-sized districts with proportional representation.
Parliamentary elections are set for June 2013 and political groups are split over what election law to adopt.
Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah support a system of proportional representation, which is opposed by the Progressive Socialist Party and the Future Movement.
Kostanian said the notion that a winner-takes-all system is unfair is “wrong.”
“Countries such as Britain and America, which have democratic systems that we dream of having, adopt a winner-takes-all system,” he said. “This does not oppose representation.”
The other draft law, continued Kostanian, is close to Charbel’s and one proposed by former Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud.
Batroun MP Butros Harb and Chouf MP George Adwan from the March 14 coalition, along with former Minister Youssef Saade and Baabda MP Alain Aoun from the March 8 camp, also attended the meeting.
Saade and Aoun were not available for comment.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/May-31/175209-bkirki-committee-studies-debates-two-electoral-law-proposals.ashx#axzz1wFjVYzRg

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