System of Government
Under the national government, the Council of Ministers, there are six muhafazats,
headed by a (Muhafez) appointed by the Council of Ministers, with among other things
the responsibility for voter registration. Under the muhafazats there are 26 qadas, headed by the Qaimaqam also appointed by the Council of Ministers.
There are currently more than 900 municipalities with a population exceeding 300 people- and 15,300 makhaters headed by a Mukhtar with a population exceeding 50 persons.
Direct elections are held for municipal councils and Mukhtars in small villages or
councils of Mukhtars in towns and cities. The next elections are scheduled for 2010.
Electoral System
The composition of the Chamber of Deputies (the Parliament), as provided by Article 24 of the Constitution, is based on the following principles:
a) Equal representation between Christians and Muslims;
b) Proportional representation among the confessional groups within each religious
community;
c) Proportional representation among geographic regions.
Equal representation between Christians and Muslims is understood to mean that each
should have the same number of Members of Parliament (MPs). The seats are further
sub-divided into confessional branches (four within Islam and six within Christianity, as
well as one for minority confessions).
The distribution of the 128 seats among the confessions is formalised in an annex to the 2008 Parliamentary Election Law as follows: Sunni 27, Shi’ite 27, Druze 8 Alawite 2, Maronite 34, Greek Orthodox 14, Greek Catholic 8, Armenian Orthodox 5, Armenian Catholic 1, Evangelical 1, and a single seat for minorities is intended to provide parliamentary representation for six recognised confessional groups.
The 2008 Election Law allocates 128 seats among 26 electoral districts, as per the Doha Agreement. The 26 electoral districts are loosely based on the administrative boundaries of the qadas. In three cases, two qada are merged into one district and in one case, a single qada is divided into two districts, Saida and Zahrany. Beirut is divided into three districts. The electoral districts vary widely in the size of their electorates – from over 250,000 to just under 45,000 voters.
Each voter can vote for as many candidates as there are seats allocated in the district, with the candidates winning the highest numbers of votes gaining seats, subject to the limits on the number of seats reserved for each confession in the district. For example, in a single district with one Maronite seat, one Sunni seat and one Greek Orthodox seat, only the highest polling Maronite, Sunni and Greek Orthodox candidates can win a seat even if the three highest polling candidates are all from the same confession.
Civil and Political Rights
Lebanon has ratified the ICCPR, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Political Rights of Women (CPRW) and signed but not ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Lebanon has not yet ratified the Arab Charter.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of association and assembly. Political parties are registered under the Law of Associations. The Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities (MoIM) must be notified of political rallies in advance.
Gender
There is one woman in the cabinet and six out of 128 MPs are women. There are no rules in place to promote women’s representation. Of the 587 candidates in the 2009 Parliamentary Elections, 12 are women.
Timing of the Election
The Minister of the Interior and Municipalities has called the next Parliamentary elections for 7 June 2009 (Decree of 5 January 2009), in line with Article 42 of the Constitution and Article 43 of the 2008 Election Law which stipulates that Parliamentary elections should be held within 60 days of the end of Parliament’s mandate. The mandate of the current Parliament ends on 17 July 2009.
