Lebanon is heading for its first parliamentary elections in nine years.
On Sunday May 6, 2018 more than 3.6 million registered voters in the country will be eligible to choose among 583 candidates competing for 128 parliamentary seats.
For Lebanese nationals living abroad, some polls opened on April 27. Already, almost 66 percent of 12,615 registered voters living in six Arab countries have cast their ballots, marking a first in Lebanese history
Overseas voting in the six countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) was followed on April 29 by voting in 33 countries in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Africa. Official figures put the total number of registered Lebanese expatriate voters at 82,965 worldwide.
Registered voters in Lebanon: 3,665,514
Registered candidates: 976, including 111 women, a record number
Number of seats up for grabs: 128
Number of young people who have become eligible to vote since 2009 election: 700,000
An unprecedented 86 female candidates are running in Sunday’s Lebanese parliamentary elections, the country's first since 2009
This year, a record 113 women submitted their candidacy, of which 86 were selected on electoral lists under Lebanon's complicated proportional representation system.The upsurge in female parliamentary hopefuls in the 2018 race is marked compared to previous election years. Only 12 female candidates ran for office in 2009, and their number was a paltry four in 2005.
Hezbollah
Lebanon’s most powerful political movement, Hezbollah has continued its long-standing electoral coordination with the Amal Movement as the “Hope and Loyalty” list.
Hezbollah’s status as the only Lebanese party with an active militia, as well as its military intervention on behalf of the Syrian government and wider involvement in region conflicts are contentious issues within Lebanon’s political sphere.
Hezbollah’s leaders have recently promised to return its focus to domestic issues, which have traditionally been a strong point for the party, which built much of its support by providing services to under-served Shiite communities across the country.
Future Movement
Led by current prime minister Saad Hariri, Future is the most popular party among Lebanese Sunnis. Rhetoric between Future and Hezbollah has been tense, particularly around the city of Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley, where both sides are hoping to gain seats.
Mr Hariri is the son of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005. Since that time, Hezbollah and Future’s rivalry has been the most significant fissure in Lebanese politics.
Mr Hariri has accused Hezbollah, which receives financial and military aid from Iran, as seeking to alter Lebanon’s “Arab identity” and violate the country’s commitment to avoid involvement in regional conflicts.
Amal Movement
Amal was the most popular Shiite political party in the 1980s, prior to the ascension of Hezbollah. The party is led by current speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, who is widely expected to retain his parliamentary seat and be elected to the position for a sixth time.
Free Patriotic Movement
Lebanon’s largest Christian party is led by Gebran Bassil, the current foreign minister and son-in-law of current president Michel Aoun. Mr Bassil and Mr Berri are deeply antagonistic toward one another, and Mr Hariri found himself mediating disputes between FPM and Amal over the course of the last year.
Though Mr Aoun and Mr Hariri were once political rivals, FPM has allied with the Future Movement in many districts.
Progressive Socialist Party
Longtime Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has handed over the political reins to his son Taymour Jumblatt, who will be standing in his father’s place for elections.
Kataeb Party
Predominantly Christian party led by Sami Gemayel, the son of former president Amine Gemayel.
Lebanese Forces
Christian party led by formerly imprisoned militia leader Samir Gagea.
Kollouna Watani
Kollouna Watani (“All for the Nation”) is the newest major political grouping in the country and the only one not affiliated with one of Lebanon’s sects. The list of 66 candidates have “civil society” backgrounds and are contesting races all over the country, particularly in Beirut, where civil society candidates received nearly half the vote in municipal elections in 2016.
Major Issues
All the parties will be battling voter apathy – Lebanon’s youth in particular are pessimistic about the future of the country, both politically and economically.
Corruption, unemployment and wages and the state of Lebanon’s infrastructure are major issues, as is balancing the country’s budget. The IMF warned this week that Lebanon’s economy is “unsustainable” at its current rate of debt to gross domestic product.
Other issues include
- The country’s ongoing trash collection and disposal crisis
- A lack of 24-hour electricity
- The handling of the country’s Syrian refugee crisis
Lebanon's current political system
was created after a 15 year civil war that ended with the Saudi-negotiated Taif Accord in 1989. Under its terms, the parliament's 128 seats were equally divided among Muslims and Christians, reinforcing the formula of 1943's National Pact, which stipulated that the country's president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.
Parliament
In the Lebanese parliament, half the seats - 64 - are allocated to Muslim candidates and half to Christians.The same legislature has been in place since 2009.
Cabinet
The current cabinet formed in December 2016, consists of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and 29 other ministers.President
General Michel Aoun ascended to the presidency in 2016.The position had remained vacant for two years; Michel Suleiman, the previous president, left office after his term expired in 2014.
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