BEIRUT - After the meeting he held at the Presidential Palace yesterday with President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora declared that “all the parties should apply what was decided in Doha to agree on the new electoral law” for next year’s parliamentary elections.

“But the parliament should decide either to apply the law for once or to do that in many steps”, said Fouad Siniora.

The Parliament has to gather today in order to discuss the new electoral law. The dissension point of the MPs is the date of adoption of this new law. Some people recommend an immediate adoption while others would prefer that the process be applied in several steps.

Last May, the different Lebanese parties agreed on amending the version based on the Kazaa, the electoral law of 1960. The new electoral law will be applied just after the parliamentary elections of 2009.

Nevertheless, the Parliament keeps on studying the possible reforms for this law. Among these reforms are the access to the Lebanese emigrants’ voting, and the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 years old.