Cabinet as failure without new electoral law: Lebanon's PM

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Wednesday that he would consider his government a "failure" if its parties do not manage to agree on a new electoral law.

Hariri made the remarks during a cabinet session that was held at the Grand Serail.

"There is insistence that the government should reach an electoral law," Information Minister Melhem Riachi announced after the session.

The political leaders have been trying to reach consensus over a new electoral law, a matter that President Michel Aoun insists on achieving, and was an essential clause of the ministerial statement.

However, disagreement about the nature of the new law whether it would adopt proportionality or remains on majority basis, as well as the distribution of the seats over the electoral districts, remains a major obstacle.

The current parliament term is to end on June 21 after being extended two times.

Asked about the proposed extension of Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, Riachi said the issue was not discussed.

Salameh had held a meeting earlier in the day with President Michel Aoun. Talks focused on Lebanon's financial and monetary situation, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

The meeting comes amid requests demanding the extension of the governor's term for another six years.

Salameh has been the central bank's governor since August 1, 1993. He was reappointed three times in 1999, 2005 and 2011, each for six years.

The cabinet meanwhile approved the recruitment of 2,000 army soldiers, and a meeting will be held between the ministers of finance and defense to agree on the process, Riachi added. Endit