Elections in Lebanon are allotted to occur every four years. Every citizen is allowed to vote, but the positions are constitutionally allocated by religious affiliation. In 2014, the Parliament failed to elect a president and
extended its own term.
Parliamentary electoral system
Lebanon's
national legislature
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included in ...
is called the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
( ar, مجلس النواب, Majlis An-Nouwab). Since the elections of 1992 (the first since the reforms of the
Taif Agreement
The Taif Agreement ( ar, اتفاق الطائف), officially known as the ( ar, وثيقة الوفاق الوطني, label=none'')'', was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Le ...
of 1989) removed the built-in majority previously enjoyed by Christians, the Parliament is composed of 128 seats with a term of four years.
Seats in the Parliament are ''confessionally distributed'' but elected by ''
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
.'' Each religious community has an allotted number of seats in the Parliament (see the table below). They do not represent only their co-religionists, however; all candidates in a particular constituency, regardless of religious affiliation, must receive a plurality of the total vote, which includes followers of all confessions. The system was designed to minimize inter-sectarian competition and maximize cross-confessional cooperation: candidates are opposed only by co-religionists, but must seek support from outside their own faith in order to be elected.
In practice, this system has led to charges of
gerrymandering
In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
. The opposition
Qornet Shehwan Gathering, a group opposed to the previous pro-
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n governments, has claimed that constituency boundaries have been drawn so as to allow many
Shi'a
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
Muslims to be elected from Shi'a-majority constituencies (where the
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
Party is strong), while allocating many Christian members to Muslim-majority constituencies, forcing Christian politicians to represent Muslim interests. Similar charges, but in reverse, were made against the
Chamoun Chamoun, Chamun or Shamoun (Syriac language, Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ; Arabic: شمعون), is an Aramaic given name and family name and a variant of Symeon and Shimun.
Notable persons with that surname include:
List of persons with the surname Chamoun ...
administration in the 1950s.
The following table sets out the confessional allocation of seats in the Parliament before and after the
Taif Agreement
The Taif Agreement ( ar, اتفاق الطائف), officially known as the ( ar, وثيقة الوفاق الوطني, label=none'')'', was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Le ...
.
Before the next election, the electoral law will be reformed. Among the changes most likely are a reduction of the voting age from 21 to 18, a more proportional electoral system, reforms to the oversight of elections and an invitation for
Lebanese voters from abroad to register in the embassies, although there is no clear promise of them being able to vote from abroad.
Especially outside the major cities, elections tend to focus more on local than national issues, and it is not unusual for a party to join an electoral ticket in one constituency while aligned with a rival party – even an ideologically opposite party – in another constituency.
Lebanese presidential elections are indirect, with the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
being elected to a 6-year term by the Parliament.
Elections took place on June 7, 2009. The
Rafik Hariri Martyr List, an anti-Syrian bloc led by
Saad Hariri
Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ar, سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, translit=Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese-Saudi politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 t ...
, captured control of the legislature winning 71 of the 128 available seats. The
Amal Amal may refer to:
* Amal (given name)
* Åmål, a small town in Sweden
* Amal Movement, a Lebanese political party
** Amal Militia, Amal Movement's defunct militia
* Amal language of Papua New Guinea
* Amal (film), ''Amal'' (film), 2007, directed ...
-
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
alliance won 30 seats, with 27 seats going to the
Free Patriotic Movement
The Free Patriotic Movement ( ar, التيار الوطني الحر, ) is a Lebanese political party. Founded by Michel Aoun in 2005, the party is currently led by Aoun son-in-law Gebran Bassil since 2015.
Ideology
The Free Patriotic movement ...
and allied parties.
The most recent general elections were held in Lebanon on 15 May 2022. See
2022 Lebanese general election
The 2022 Lebanese general election is the upcoming general election in Lebanon, scheduled for 15 May 2022.
Background
2019–21 protests
Large-scale anti-government demonstrations ignited in the country from 17 October. Initially triggered ...
.
See also
*
Cedar Revolution
The Cedar Revolution ( ar, ثورة الأرز, ''thawrat al-arz'') or Independence Uprising ( ar, انتفاضة الاستقلال, ''intifāḍat al-istiqlāl'') was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon (especially in the capital Beirut) trig ...
*
Electoral calendar
This national electoral calendar for 2022 lists the national/federal elections held in 2022 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
* 16 January: Se ...
*
Electoral system
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...
*
2007 Lebanese by-elections
References
External links
Adam Carr's Election ArchiveLibanvote an exhaustive record of all elections since 1927, with a constituency-by-constituency breakdown of votes by candidate, together with any subsequent byelections for particular constituencies.
Mohammad Bazzi: Lebanese Election PreviewCouncil on Foreign Relations
Naharnet Elections 2009 Coverage Candidate and District News
Election Laws and CodesSeat Allocation by Confession by District (map)Sharek961empowers Lebanese citizens to promote transparency by sending in eyewitness reports on all election-related incidents or issues. People across Lebanon can send in reports through SMS, email, and the web.
{{Lebanon topics