Parliament of Lebanon - Electoral System

Electoral System

The system of multi-member constituencies has been criticized over the years by many politicians, who claim that it is easy for the government to gerrymander the boundaries. The Baabda-Aley constituency, established for the 2000 election, is a case in point: the predominantly Druze area of Aley (in the east of Beirut) were combined, in a single constituency, with the predominantly Christian area of Baabda. The same thing happens in the South, meaning that although several seats within the constituency are allocated to Christians, they have to appeal to an electorate which is predominantly Muslim. Many opposition politicians, mostly Christians, have claimed that the constituency boundaries were extensively gerrymandered in the elections of 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2009. There have also been calls for the creation of a single, country-wide constituency. Unless and until the myriad religious and political factions can agree on an alternative electoral system, the controversy is unlikely to be resolved; however, there is a chance that the new formed parliament could turn the system into a House of Lords and House of Parliament, abolishing the Ta'ef Accord; however this seems unlikely, as the Western-backed ruling majority do not see the Doha Accord (an agreement by past Lebanese rivals to end the 2006–2008 crisis) to be essential or positive, as it is beneficial for the opposition in giving them veto power.