Lebanese Futurists launch new electoral law

Lebanon’s Future Movement has presented parliamentarians with a new bill of constitutional amendments, including an electoral reform package aimed at the Senate. Future politicians launched the bill with a presentation to parliamentary speaker, Nabi Berri. Berri announced the law would be considered during the second half of March and would be discussed “in normal administrative course” within the House of Representatives. Electoral reform suggestions would be passed on to the government in preparation for committee stage discussions, Berri revealed. Future Movement members have taken to the campaign trail to market their suggestions to voters, visiting the right-wing Lebanese Forces headquarters as well as Progressive Socialist Party representatives, including Druze MP Walid Jumblatt. Baath Socialist party members meanwhile petitioned Berri with a proposal to unite Lebanon as a single electoral constituency. "We are at a serious stage that requires everyone to look for a space for understanding and consensus,” Berri said, during a weekly deputies’ meeting. Berri added that Bulgaria’s accusations against Hezbollah, concerning a terrorist attack on a bus full of Israel tourists which killed five, “served the enemies of Lebanon.”