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Daily Star, Lebanon
Summary: A proposal has been
made to elect Parliamentary seats in Lebanon using full
representation (proportional representation). In this article, a
Lebanese Member of Parliament registers his opinion against full
representation. Currently, Lebanon uses a form of at-large plurality
voting known as party block, where a party winning a plurality of
the votes in a multiple member district receives all the seats in
that district.
Daily Star, Lebanon
Karami says ’Äúsmall election district’Äù best
A small election district is best in a ’Äúsectarian
country like Lebanon,’Äù according to Tripoli MP Omar Karami. The
former prime minister weighed in on the election law debate during a
meeting in Tripoli with Beirut MP Mohammed Qabbani. Karami was also
responding to Speaker Nabih Berri’Äôs suggestion to use proportional
representation in the 2005 round for roughly half of the
legislature’Äôs 128 seats. ’ÄúI’Äôve been involved in elections for 40
years,’Äù Karami said, ’Äúand in my opinion, sound representation in a
sectarian country like Lebanon will not be based on proportional
representation, and not on these theories that are proposed, but on
a election law based on small districts.’Äù Karami added that fair
elections required an election law that protected the public from
’Äúmoney, pressure and security agencies.’Äù |
