PM-Designate Salam Renews Efforts for Government Formation

Local Editor

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam held talks on Saturday with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman over renewing efforts to form a government after the Parliament decided to extend its mandate on Friday.

The Parliament is to extend its mandate for 17 months and postpone parliamentary elections until November 2014 because MPs couldn't agree upon a new electoral law.

March 14 forces hindered efforts on reaching a new electoral law after the Orthodox law tinted with proportionality was proposed.

These opposition forces insisted on holding elections according to the 1960s law  which was used in previous elections. However the law, as considered by many legal experts, is a dead one and its use was only temporary and circumstantial.

Lebanon has been without a government since caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati presented his resignation in March.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team