Security Situation to Prevent Lebanon Electoral Reform

Photo Credit: The Daily Star

As Syria’s violence continues to penetrate Lebanese borders, former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said security concerns would prevent Lebanon’s Cabinet from passing a new electoral laws prior to the 2013 parliamentary elections. “There isn’t a normal atmosphere that allows for producing an electoral law,” Baroud told the Central News Agency; however, the current government officially backed a proposal for a new electoral law based on proportional representation several weeks ago. The Daily Star explains the law: “[It] would divide Lebanon into 13 electoral districts, set a parliament quota for women, and award parliamentary seats based on proportion of the vote, rather than the majoritarian system used in the 2009 election.” The bill would also allow for several delegates to be elected to represent the expatriate community, a provision that Wissam Yafi examines and calls ”a good step forward.”

Meanwhile, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani blamed political leaders and Lebanese who have accepted repression for the deteriorating situation in the country, and he commented that Lebanon needs an electoral law that guarantees true representation. He said, “We don’t need an election law that eliminates the other but one that guarantees true representation of everyone.”

Finally, Shane Kevin Farrell looks into Hezbollah’s continued support of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Atoine Ghattas Saab relays the findings of an Arab diplomatic report that concludes, due to the situation in Syria, “Lebanon is heading toward a critical and dangerous stage that could destroy all the achievements that have been made since the Taif Accord was signed in 1989.”