BEIRUT: Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri slammed the approval Tuesday of the Orthodox Gathering draft by the joint parliamentary committees discussing electoral proposals, describing the endorsement as a “black day” in the history of Parliament.

“The approval of the Orthodox Gathering proposal in the joint committees is a black day in the history of legislative work,” he said in a Twitter post.

His comments came minutes after lawmakers in the Free Patriotic Movement announced that the controversial electoral proposal had been approved at the level of the joint parliamentary committees despite a walk-out by politicians from Hariri’s party and the Progressive Socialist Party.

The lawmakers pulled out from the session after a request to delay a vote on the Orthodox draft was declined.