A new Maronite-Druze concordat in Lebanon?

Fearing marginalisation under the much discussed ‘proportionality’ law, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt rejected it, engaged the Druze community to oppose what he perceived to be an existential challenge, and called on others to stand strong against those determined to change Lebanon’s political character.

On Tuesday, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea voiced his opposition to any electoral law that didn’t meet Jumblatt’s approval, which effectively meant that the preferred Hezbollah mechanism, an electoral law based on proportional representation, was for all practical purposes dead on arrival.

Other political parties, including the Future Movement, have rejected the proposal in the past even if, more recently, it argued that a mixed system might be the way to go.

The debate over a new electoral law has dragged on for at least a decade, although intensive discussions occurred during the past three years, with no agreement in sight. Several proposals were tabled, parliamentary commissions formed, and public deliberations entertained, all of which came to naught. One of the chief reasons why the last parliamentary elections were held in 2009 was the deputies’ inability to draft and vote on a new law, which prompted representatives to extend their own mandates twice, on May 31, 2013, and on November 5, 2014.

The 2009 elections, held under the universally disliked 1960 Law — a 57-year-old regulation that served Lebanese parties exceptionally well — returned more or less the same elite to power.

Jumblatt insisted that the PSP, and presumably the entire Druze community, were not ready to accept an electoral law that potentially meant a loss of his 7 seats [an eighth Druze served in parliament too but that office holder was not a PSP member]. On Tuesday, Jumblatt was quoted in the daily Al Jumhuriyyah affirming that the Druze felt “as if [they] are holding a stateless identity which we will never accept”.

The LF backing of the PSP was an extraordinary development in its own right with deputy Strida Geagea, the LF chief’s spouse, informing him personally of her party’s rejection of their marginalisation. The astute telephone call highlighted how sensitive the Druze votes were in parliament.

The PSP’s senior media officer Rami Rayess returned the favour and was quoted in local papers as saying: “The PSP appreciates the stances taken by Geagea, which reflects his comprehension of the delicate Lebanese political structure that cannot upset or endanger the presence of important and founding pillars of the nation.”

The Druze are a main component of Lebanon because of the role that the Amir Fakhr Al Deen Bin Maan (1572—1635) played in the political set-up that unified conflicting nations, though recent demographic changes meant that their overall numbers diminished.

source: GULF NEWS