Lebanon's Elections, Explained
Lebanon is set to hold its next general elections in 2022 amidst political instability, social unrest, and an unprecedented economic crisis.
Created following a bloody civil war that lasted a decade and a half, the Lebanese electoral system is a rather complex one that revolves around sects in the distribution of parliamentary seats.
This is what you need to know about this system.
A Confessional Electoral System
Mohamad Azakir
Though it has seen various changes over the past three decades, Lebanon's electoral system has kept roughly the same elements since the end of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) .
Introduced with the birth of the Taif Agreement that paved the way to ending the war, the system stipulates that general elections are to be held every four years.
Constitutionally, in line with the said agreement, the Lebanese Parliament's 128 seats are allocated by religious affiliation: 64 go to Muslims, and 64 go to Christians.
Further, the seats are distributed among the 18 officially recognized religious sects in the country.
In accordance with the electoral law passed by Parliament in 2017, the general elections take place across 15 multi-member constituencies, 7 of which are divided into two or more minor constituencies.
The aforementioned 128 seats are distributed across the electoral districts of Beirut I, II, III; Bekaa I, II, III; Mount Lebanon I, II, III, IV; North I, II, III; and South I, II, III, according to the same law, as follows:
Christians: 64 Maronite Catholic: 34
Eastern Orthodox: 14
Melkite Catholic: 8
Armenian Orthodox: 5
Armenian Catholic: 1
Protestant: 1
Other Christian Minorities: 1
Muslims: 64 Sunni: 27
Shia: 27
Druze: 8
Alawite: 2
It's worth noting that the distribution is not exactly even across the different electoral districts. In other words, not all sects have seats in all areas.
For instance, as per the 2017 electoral law, in Mount Lebanon I (Byblos-Keserwan), seven seats are allocated for Maronites, whereas none are allocated for Druze in that region.
On the other hand, Druze have one seat in Beirut II (West Beirut), where Maronites have none. The same is true across the remaining districts and sects.
All candidates are supposed to be organized in lists 40 days before election day at the latest.
Each list of candidates must include at least 40% of the number of seats in an electoral district, with no less than 3 seats, provided that it includes at least 1 seat from each minor constituency in districts that are composed of more than 1 minor constituency.
Voting & the Electoral Process
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The elections take place on a single day (always a Sunday) for all electoral districts, within the last 60 days before the end of the incumbent Parliament's term. The process starts at 7 AM and ends at 7 PM.