BEIRUT: Efforts are under way to agree on an election law that can ensure sound parliamentary representation equally divided between Christians and Muslims, March 14 Batroun MP Butros Harb said Friday. “So far, there has been no agreement on a new election law. The search is still going on for the best formula and the best election law that can achieve genuine representation based on an equal division [of parliamentary seats] between Christians and Muslims as provided for in the Taif Accord,” Harb told The Daily Star.

Harb spoke after he and members of an election committee met with President Michel Sleiman at Baabda Palace to discuss a draft election plan for the 2013 parliamentary polls.

In addition to Harb, the committee includes Metn MP Sami Gemayel from the Kataeb Party, Chouf MP George Adwan from the Lebanese Forces, Baabda MP Alain Aoun from the Free Patriotic Movement and former ministers Ziad Baroud and Youssef Saade. While Baroud is independent, Saade belongs to the Marada Movement of Zghorta MP Suleiman Franjieh.

The committee was formed last month following wide-ranging talks sponsored by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai at his seat in Bkirki, during which the four top Maronite leaders – Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel, FPM leader Michel Aoun, LF leader Samir Geagea and Franjieh – endorsed an election proposal made by the Orthodox Gathering, while stressing the need to hold dialogue with other groups on the matter.

The Orthodox Gathering’s proposal called for each sect to elect its own MPs based on proportional representation during the 2013 elections. A statement issued after the Bkirki meeting described the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal as “a valid formula to achieve a just and effective representation.”

However, the Orthodox proposal has drawn fire from officials across the political divide, with some warning that it would deepen sectarianism in the country.

Of the meeting with Sleiman, Harb said: “We expressed our viewpoint, which calls for finding the best election law that can eliminate Christian concerns and ensure genuine representation.” He added that the Maronite leaders and Christian MPs who attended the Bkirki meeting did not adopt the Orthodox Gathering’s election proposal which, he said, aims to allay Christian concerns about sound representation in Parliament.

A political source said the president supported “a modern election law that can represent all segments of the Lebanese population.”

“The president sees that an election law based on proportional representation is one of the options,” the source told The Daily Star.

Minyeh MP Ahmad Fatfat, a Future Movement official, said the March 14 parties would eventually adopt a united stance on an election law. Fatfat said he had discussed all election proposals during his meeting with Geagea the day before. “There won’t be any differences between us. There will be only a joint stance by the LF, the Future Movement and the Kataeb Party on an election law,” he told the Central News Agency.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has rejected the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal, saying it isolates Christians from Muslims.

The row over an election law comes as the government is still debating a new electoral law based on proportional representation.