Siniora says all parties committed to adopting electoral law inked in Doha

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Monday that all Lebanese parties were committed to implementing what was agreed on in Doha last May regarding the drafting of a new electoral law for next year's parliamentary elections.

"All parties are committed to implementing the Doha Agreement in this regard, but it is left for Parliament to decide whether to adopt the law at once or do that in different stages," Siniora told reporters after meeting President Michel Sleiman at the presidential palace.

Parliament is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss drafting the new electoral law amid conflicting opinions on whether Parliament should adopt the law on Tuesday or wait for further reforms.

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March 14 returns Siniora to premier's seat to offset losses in Doha - analysts

Rather than expending parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri's political capital in a short-lived, fractious "unity" cabinet, the March 14 coalition has cast outgoing Premier Fouad Siniora back into the prime minister's seat to offset the camp's perceived losses from the Doha accord and to steer the coming government through the expected gloomy conditions, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Wednesday.

During the talks between the March 14 and March 8 leaders in Doha earlier this month, many had suggested an emerging unity government could offer Hariri the chance to take the political mantle of his father, assassinated five-time former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. However,despite the bonhomie attending the political settlement reached in Doha, the political tensions that soured the past 18 months will still cling to the next administration, which will govern only until the general elections slated for May 2009, said Oussama Safa, executive director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.

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