Berri Accepts Senate Formation, Conditions Non-Sectarian Parliamentary Elections Based on Proportionality

Local Editor

Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri announced Tuesday his approval on electing a Senate council based on the Orthodox electoral proposal.
However, he conditioned that the Parliament is elected away from sectarian considerations and on the bases of proportionality with a single electoral district as well as a division of power between Muslims and Christians.
In an interview with as-Safir Lebanese daily, Berri reminded that "the literal text of the Taef Agreement frees the parliament of any sectarian distribution, after the formation of the Senate."
"But I do not mind maintaining the principle of division, for the sake of preserving Lebanon," the House Speaker confirmed.
Berri further suggested holding the parliamentary and senate elections simultaneously although the Taef accord calls for electing the members of the senate after the election of the first non-sectarian parliament.
The top Lebanese official highlighted that he will move with the Senate proposal if others approve it, although parliament would lose some of its authorities.
"I'm not sensitive in this regard because I don't own the legislature," he confirmed.

In the same context, Berri mentioned that the Senate's mission will concentrate on discussing the fatal issues. The Speaker provided the examples of "war, peace, emergency announcement."

"It might also be specialized in discussing the international agreement," he said, and noted that "the real problem lies in the type of the existing political system established on sectarian basis, the main Lebanese disease."
Moreover, he called for viewing the Orthodox proposal as a normal result for the sectarian track that recently reached its maximum.

"He who plants the wind, receives the storm," Berri concluded.

Source: as-Safir Lebanese daily, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org