By Joseph A. Kechichian

Beirut: Although Speaker Nabih Berri insisted that reaching an agreement on a new electoral legislation would allow Lebanon to end a lingering presidential vacuum, his 19th convocation of the National Dialogue failed to produce a new initiative, though everyone planned to revisit pending concerns at a later date.

On Tuesday, rival leaders returned to the Speaker’s mansion at Ain Al Tineh, even if March 8 and March 14 politicians harboured low expectations for reaching an accord. Berri’s proposal for a new voting system called for holding early parliamentary polls before the election of a president.


Siniora’s stand Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who represented the Future Movement at the National Dialogue sessions, renewed his party’s insistence for the election of a president first to end the current paralysis. He and others rejected any tampering with the Constitution.

A joint parliamentary committee has been meeting periodically but it too was unable to settle the issue and agree on an alternative to the so called 1960 law, which called for electoral districts to be based on the qadas, or constituents, formula. It is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, that is 24 hours after the 19th National Dialogue session, though many doubted lawmakers displayed any abilities to agree on a new voting system.

For months on end, Lebanese officials examined two hybrid proposals that called for a proportional voting system as well as the present winner-take-all formula. The Speaker’s proposal was pitted against one backed by the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

On Tuesday, Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel repeated his calls for Lebanon to be divided into single constituencies as well as for the implementation of the Ta’if Accords that planned the creation of a senate. These, Gemayel claimed, would gradually abolish the sectarian system in the country and build confidence among an increasingly disillusioned population.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, PSP chief Walid Jumblatt and Lebanese Democratic Party head Talal Arslan were absent from the 19th dialogue meeting. So was Robert Fadel, the Tripoli deputy who resigned after municipal elections shattered his legacy, when the Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi’s list prevailed.

Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas reserves question was apparently also discussed on Tuesday, though no details were revealed about any decisions reached, if any.