Lebanese Christians reject orthodox law

Maronite Christian leaders in Lebanon have announced they will boycott the upcoming elections, and urged politicians to find a fairer alternative to the Orthodox Gathering electoral proposal. The decision was made during a meeting at the patriarchate headquarters in Bkirki on Tuesday, chaired by Maronite Cardinal Patriarch Beshara Rai, and attended by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel, and FPM MP Alain Aoun. After the meeting, the Christian leaders issued a joint statement in which they rejected electoral participation under the 1960 law. They claimed that the controversial law, which stipulates that each sect in Lebanon is to vote for their own representatives, is harmful and divisive. They called on Lebanon's Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to suspend the electoral nominations and draft a law which would ensure the fair representation of the Lebanese community. Interior Minister Charbel met the Maronite patriarch along with Parliamentarians Gemayel, Adwan, and former minister Yousef Saada. Sources told Arabstoday that Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman had refused to extend the parliamentary term unless there were exceptional circumstances. He rejected the call adopted by several political parties to extend the term of the House of Representatives by two years. A source told Arabstoday that the Christian leaders at the meeting on Tuesday refused to accept the interior minister's decision to hold parliamentary elections on June 9.