MGLE01: ELECTORAL REFORM COMMISSION RESIGNEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000899

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH
DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PI - KIRBY, AND DRL - BIRKLE
LONDON FOR TSOU
PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KMPI SOCI LE
SUBJECT: MGLE01: ELECTORAL REFORM COMMISSION RESIGNEE
QUESTIONS NEUTRALITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF FELLOW MEMBERS

BEIRUT 00000899 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) In a 3/20 meeting, Ziad Baroud explained his
resignation from the national commission on electoral law
reform, lashing out at several fellow commission members in
the process. Baroud asserted that a proposed nine-district
electoral map was unfair to the Christian community,
expressing bitterness that, in his view, "we Christians no
longer fit in this country." Baroud also expressed deep
disappointment with some of his colleagues, who, he claimed,
were acting on personal interests rather than for the
country's benefit. End summary.

BAROUD LASHES OUT AT COMMISSION MEMBERS
--------------


2. (C) During a March 20 meeting, Baroud expressed deep
disappointment with fellow members of the national commission
charged with reforming the electoral law. (Note: Baroud
resigned from the commission earlier this month, along with
its other Maronite member, Michel Tabet.) He directed much
of his ire at two longtime friends and colleagues, Nawaf
Salam and Paul Salem. "If these people are supposed to be
the intellectual elite of Lebanon, then what should we expect
from others?"


3. (C) Baroud said that Salam -- a Sunni Muslim whom Baroud
described as close to the Hariri family -- not Fouad Boutros,
is the real chairman of the commission. He accused Salam,
the commission's secretary, of deliberately postponing
discussions on the controversial issue of electoral districts
in an attempt to create a fait accompli.


4. (C) Baroud complained that others are "accusing me of
seeing the Maronite Patriarch and getting directives from
him. I don,t see the Patriarch every day, unlike Nawaf
(Salam),who goes to Qoraytem (MP Sa'ad Hariri,s residence
in West Beirut) every day. The fact of the matter is that
they promised to appoint him Ambassador to Washington.8

CHRISTIAN ANGST
--------------


5. (C) Baroud also expressed surprise at Salem's attitude.
He claimed that Salem -- one of the commission's two
Greek-Orthodox Christian members -- told the commission that
Christians should not have a sense of entitlement to half of
the Parliament's seats, since they no longer constituted the
majority of the population.


6. (C) "Unfortunately," Baroud said, "what counts for Paul
is to become a member of Parliament" from his home district
of the Kura in northern Lebanon. He added that Salem, widely
seen as one of the most active and reform-minded members of
the commission, opposed out-of-country voting for reasons
having solely to do with his own, local political ambitions.
He ultimately supported it only when the overwhelming
majority of the commission did.


7. (C) Baroud even lashed out at Fayez Hajj Chahine, the
commission's Greek-Catholic Christian member, who was
Baroud's ally on the issue of nine electoral districts versus
13 -- the issue that drove Baroud to resign. He claimed that
Hajj Chahine, almost immediately after Baroud's resignation,
tried to market a replacement for him to the Maronite
Patriarch. Hajj Chahine, according to Baroud, is someone who
wants to please everyone.


8. (C) Commenting on fellow commission member Zouheir Chokr
(septel),Baroud said, "he badly wanted this position, so
there was a price to pay." (Note: The "position" Baroud
referred to was the presidency of the Lebanese University, to
which Chokr was recently appointed. Chokr, one of the
commission's two Shi'a Muslim members, is reportedly close to
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. End note.)

BAROUD UNDECIDED TO RE-JOIN THE COMMISSION
--------------


BEIRUT 00000899 002.2 OF 002



9. (C) Baroud told us that he and Tabet met Prime Minister
Siniora last Friday, March 17, in the presence of Boutros.
Siniora advised the two to withdraw their resignations,
assuring them that all disagreements would be resolved inside
the commission. According to Baroud, Tabet was inclined to
re-join the commission, "because the Prime Minister asked him
to re-join."


10. (C) Baroud, in contrast, said he still had strong
reservations about returning to the commission. He did not
trust his fellow members. He claimed that, during the March
17 meeting, Siniora told him, "I had other arrangements for
you." Baroud interpreted this as Siniora dangling a cabinet
portfolio in front of him in return for greater
"flexibility."

A 13-DISTRICT ELECTORAL MAP AS A COMPROMISE
--------------


11. (C) Baroud told us that the 13-district electoral scheme
he had advocated may not be the ideal formula, but it was a
"good compromise" that would ensure effective representation
of Christians in Parliament. Christian voters would be able
to decide approximately 54 of the total of 64 Christian seats
in Parliament. A nine-district scheme, in contrast, would
lower that number to 42, he said.


12. (C) Baroud defended himself from accusations that he
caved in to pressure from the Maronite community. He said,
"everyone knows that I have never acted on a confessional
basis and I have no personal interests at stake." As a
native of the overwhelmingly-Maronite Keserwan region, he
could pursue any personal political ambitions he might have
regardless of whether the commission settled on nine
districts or 13. The reason he opposed a nine-district
scheme was because, in his view, it was unfair to the
Christian community as a whole. "We Christians," Baroud said
bitterly, "no longer fit in this country."


13. (C) Baroud said that Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is not
enthusiastic about elections decided on a proportional basis
(as opposed to a majoritarian or "first-past-the post"
system),because this would cost his parliamentary bloc a
number of seats in Mount Lebanon. However, Baroud claimed,
Jumblatt favors a 13-district map, such as the one Baroud
advocated in the commission. This is because it would
separate regions with concentrations of pro-Jumblatt voters
from those with concentrations of pro-Aoun voters.


14. (C) Asked about MP Sa'ad Hariri's position, Baroud said,
"Hariri should keep in mind that he was able to win 34
parliamentary seats in the 2005 elections only because of the
'Ghazi Kena'an-made' electoral law, but this should never
happen again." (Note: Baroud was referring to the electoral
law of the year 2000, still in effect, widely seen as the
work of Syria's military intelligence "proconsul" in Lebanon
at the time, Ghazi Kena'an.)

COMMENT
--------------


15. (C) The electoral reform commission is scheduled to
reconvene on March 22. While some press reports on March 21
were suggesting that Baroud has decided to re-join the
commission -- and PM Fouad Siniora insisted that was the case
(see septel) -- we have little reason to be certain, based on
our conversation with him, that he will be seated at the
table.
FELTMAN