Berri denies saying 2013 polls might be called off

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has denied media reports that quoted him as saying that next year’s parliamentary elections might not be held if no agreement is reached on a new electoral law. “Speaker Berri denies a newspaper’s report about the possibility of the elections not being held,” according to a statement released by Berri’s press office Sunday. Berri stressed that what had been attributed to him was incorrect. “What he said was the opposite.” Meanwhile, MPs from the Future parliamentary bloc strongly rejected a statement by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who warned that the security situation in northern Lebanon was not favorable for holding the 2013 elections. In an interview with LBCI TV Thursday, Aoun said the security situation in Akkar and the northern city of Tripoli – the scene of Syria’s violations of the Lebanese border and armed clashes between pro- and anti-Assad supporters – did not allow the elections to be held. Seven Future MPs in the north denounced Aoun’s statement as “very serious,” saying that the security situation in Akkar and Tripoli was the best in the country. Referring to Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s visit to Akkar last month, the Future MPs, who met at the house of MP Mohammad Kabbara in Tripoli, said in a statement: “We call on the general [Aoun] to check with the patriarch about his recent visit to Akkar in order to be assured that the security situation in Akkar and Tripoli is the best.” Reading the statement to reporters, MP Ahmad Fatfat said Aoun’s warning was probably intended to set the stage for an attempt to postpone the elections “by some who claim [to support] democracy and freedom.” In a clear allusion to Aoun and his March 8 allies, Fatfat said: “They fear these elections, and they fear the loss of these elections due to their increasingly spiteful practices at the economic, social and political levels, particularly the Syrian conflict.” Fatfat said the Future bloc supported an election law based on a winner-takes-all system pending the disarmament of “Hezbollah’s militias.” He added that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the parliamentary Future bloc, had already told Rai that he agreed to a proposal for small electoral districts. For his part, Hezbollah’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan reiterated his party’s support for the government’s draft electoral law for proportional representation. “A proportional system is the best system because it ensures the best representation for a [sectarian] makeup like Lebanon’s makeup,” he told a ceremony in the southern town of Nabatieh. Referring to March 14 parties which rejected proportional representation, he said: “If you wanted political stability in Lebanon and a good representation for the citizens, here’s an electoral law based on proportionality with 13 districts that was put forward by the government.” The opposition March 14 coalition and the Hezbollah-led March 8 bloc are sharply split over which legislation best guarantees fair representation for all the parties in the 2013 elections. MPs from the joint parliamentary committees are still debating three conflicting proposals for a new election law to be adopted in the 2013 polls. The government’s draft electoral law, which would divide Lebanon into 13 medium-sized districts based on a system of proportional representation, has been rejected by March 14. The committees are also discussing a proposal presented by the March 14 Christian parties that would divide Lebanon into 50 small districts under a winner-takes-all-system, and another proposal put forward by Aoun’s bloc, whereby every sect elects its own MPs, under a proportional representation system and with the adoption of Lebanon as a single district. From DailyStar