BEIRUT: An agreement has been reached on the formation of a committee to draft a new voting system to replace the 1960 electoral law, a Free Patriotic Movement delegation announced Tuesday following talks with the country’s top leaders.

The proposed committee would include representatives from all of the political parties and would be tasked with devising an electoral law ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2017.

The delegation of five FPM lawmakers, headed by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, met Tuesday with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel to promote the group’s proposal to separate the Cabinet formation process from attempts to endorse a new electoral law to replace the controversial 1960 majoritarian system.

The delegation, which belongs to President Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, met Monday with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc and MP Talal Arslan for the same purpose. The delegation’s itinerary also includes Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh.

“This visit [to Hariri] is part of a tour undertaken by the [Change and Reform] bloc of all parliamentary blocs, concerning an electoral law and the need to approve it and put it on the list of concerns of constitutional institutions, starting with Parliament and all blocs,” Kanaan told reporters after meeting Hariri at the latter’s Downtown Beirut residence.

“This meeting was very useful. We sensed from Prime Minister Hariri a will to cooperate in this matter. We agreed to form a small group from all the blocs to work seriously, away from the media, during the coming days, to reach a common formula among the proposals that exist today in Parliament,” he said.

Kanaan stressed that work on a new voting system should not be tied to the formation of a new government. “It is not necessary to wait for the formation of the government, knowing that we wish for its formation as soon as possible, and there are indications in this direction, but our work is separate,” he said.

Recalling that subcommittees and joint parliamentary committees tasked with drafting a voting system have failed in the past years to agree on a new electoral law, Kanaan said: “Our agreement, our Constitution and our system do not just allow us, but require us to complete this task [an electoral law]. Therefore, we fully agreed on the need to cooperate and found that the reforms discussed in the subcommittee are very important, and maybe as important as the division of districts. These reforms are related to the vote bulletin, the body that oversees the elections, women’s quota, all of which provide greater transparency and a real, effective democracy for the electoral process.”

Political powers remain at odds over drafting an electoral law to govern next year’s parliamentary elections. Lebanese parties are divided between adopting a proportional vote law, or a hybrid electoral law that includes aspects of the proportional and winner-take-all systems. The current 1960 winner-take-all system, which was used in the last elections in 2009, divides the constituencies based on administrative districts.

Kanaan rejected the theory that time was running out for a new electoral law, raising fears that the elections might be held under the 1960 system. “If we were able to accomplish the hardest thing [the election of a president], we will be able to accomplish the easiest one, which is the election law,” he said. “We want the elections to take place on time. We are working to reach an election law at the earliest opportunity to hold the elections on time. So far, our tour is encouraging.”

Asked if a new electoral law would be based on proportional representation as most blocs have called for, Kanaan said: “We, as the Change and Reform bloc, are open to any formula that guarantees a real national partnership, respects our Constitution and provides real parity. We have our proposals, but we are open to any proposal that provides this partnership and that parity.”

For his part, Gemayel, the Kataeb Party chief, called on Speaker Nabih Berri to open parliamentary deliberations to vote on all draft electoral laws presented by various blocs.

“Regardless of whether an agreement is reached on a specific electoral law or not, responsibility falls on the Parliament speaker to convene a session and put all proposed laws to vote as stipulated by the Constitution,” Gemayel told reporters after meeting with the FPM delegation. “There are several proposals. We need to vote and try to reach an agreement. The Constitution clearly states that after discussing the laws we must vote.”

He called for the approval of an electoral law by Parliament as soon as possible to in order to avoid the 1960 law which, he said, “consecrates corruption and undermines true representation and partnership at all levels.”

“Let’s give the Lebanese a gift for the holidays by agreeing on a new vote law,” Gemayel said. He added that the approval of a new electoral law before the parliamentary elections would be “a new achievement” and “a big test” for all the parties, including the government and the president.

Kanaan stressed that the FPM opposes another extension of Parliament’s term as well as the 1960 electoral law.

“We are against the 1960 law. We reject holding parliamentary elections under a law that has been rejected publicly by all parliamentary blocs because it does not ensure true representation,” Kanaan said with Gemayel standing next to him. “We are ready to cooperate for the creation of a new electoral law.”