BEIRUT: Parliament will fail yet again to elect a president Thursday, as talks over a new electoral law has made little to no progress with opposing sides refusing to yield and find middle ground. Parliament’s joint committees continued their deliberations aimed at replacing the controversial 1960 system Wednesday. Parliament’s deputy speaker said he hoped that the work would be finalized within the coming weeks.

“If in the next two weeks we reach a solution in regards to the division of constituencies and the number of MPs, we would have then reached a new law,” Deputy Speaker Farid Makari said during a news conference following the talks.

Makari described Wednesday’s discussions as “very serious,” stating that they centered on how constituencies would be formed across the nation, especially in Mount Lebanon. The next meeting is scheduled for June 7.

Change and Reform bloc officials have proposed raising the number of MPs who would represent the Lebanese diaspora. MP Alain Aoun, from the group, voiced concern over the potential for a third extension of Parliament’s term.

“Some parties now feel that their representation in the country is diminishing, as proved in the municipal elections,” he said. “[They] have begun discussing behind closed doors a possible third extension.”

Most MPs voted to extend their mandates twice, once in 2013 and again in 2014. At the time they claimed that the precarious security situation prevented elections along with the inability of rival political factions to agree on a new electoral law.

The last round of parliamentary elections took place in 2009 and was governed by the 1960 law.

Aoun’s bloc has been rallying behind a proportional representation system that would make the entire country a single constituency, stressing that such a system would provide the most adequate representation for all minorities.

“Anyone who feels marginalized by the current system must pressure the political class into introducing a new law which best represents everyone and support those calling for it,” Aoun said. He said Wednesday’s discussion was the first serious round of talks between the parties, adding that it was not enough.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said any chances of extending Parliament’s term a third time “were dead.” He stressed that the best scenario was to reach a law everyone agreed on. “The worst scenario is to carry out the elections based on the current system,” he said. “It will produce the same crises that the country is suffering from.” Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan echoed Fayyad’s comments, saying that a return to the 1960 law would be a return to unfair representation.

“Going back to the 1960 law means going back to the same crises which the country has suffered from for a long time,” he said. “My party and I will do everything possible to prevent this from happening.”

The LF, along with the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, support a proposal that would see 60 MPs elected on the basis of proportional representation. The remaining 68 MPs would be elected by a winner-take-all system.

Speaker Nabih Berri presented another proposal: 64 MPs would be elected on the basis of proportional representation, while the remaining 64 would be voted in based on a majoritarian system.

Most Christian parties argue that the 1960 law devalues Christian votes in parts of the country where they constitute a minority. Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat reiterated his party’s rejection of a law based completely on proportional representation “as long as there are illegal arms,” in reference to Hezbollah.

The 1960 law divides Lebanon’s constituencies on the basis of administrative districts. The Future Movement worries that if a proportional system were to be introduced, and the entirety of Lebanon considered as one constituency, then Hezbollah would expand its influence and use its arms to pressure voters. “We are adamantly for a hybrid law where 47 percent of it is based on proportional representation, and 53 percent is based on a majoritarian system,” Fatfat said.

Berri, witnessing the political deadlock, said it was best to return to a plan proposed by former Prime Minister Naijb Mikati’s Cabinet.

The draft law was approved by most ministers in 2012 and referred to Parliament. They agreed on a system based on proportional representation where Lebanon would be divided into 13 districts. PSP head Walid Jumblatt and ex-Minister of State Ali Qanso voiced the only objections to the bill.

According to the plan, Beirut and south Lebanon would each be divided into two districts, while the Bekaa, Mount Lebanon, and the north would be divided into three. Last month, Berri stressed that he would not call for a parliamentary session before the joint parliamentary committees completed their discussions over a new electoral law to replace the 1960 system.