Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Beirut: Lebanon has always experimented with electoral reforms even before it gained independence in 1943, which partly explains the ongoing confusion over an acceptable law. A few short weeks before scheduled parliamentary elections, deputies are finding themselves caught in a self-made deadlock - unable to find a suitable replacement for the current “winner takes all” system with proportional representation.
While it seemed that all politicians were complaining about the proposals, none were able to agree on an alternative. The usual political and financial turf wars are behind the current standstill.
On Monday, the Ministry of the Interior once again accepted applications from candidates who wished to run for office, as parliament speaker Nabih Berri convened his electoral subcommittee to determine whether an ultimate solution may be devised.
What is behind the current disagreements over amendments?
First of all leading political parties are fighting over district size and the electoral system itself. Because parliament’s 128 seats are divided among multi-member districts with multi-confessional slates, the very size of a particular district matters, since each represented the actual confessional demography of each constituency.
In smaller districts, more homogenous representation was possible along sectarian lines, which meant that any proposals to shift to larger electoral districts will sideline minorities. This was the case because demographic majorities in larger districts would have the power to elect seats allocated to a community that does not have a significant popular representation. Thus a Maronite MP in a Sunni-dominated district would be elected by Sunni votes - undermining the Maronite “real” representation. That would mean that the MP would essentially be a “lackey” of the majority-sect who elected him/her.
This was the chief objection that the Free Patriotic Movement’s leader Michel Aoun ostensibly wished to address by adopting the Elie Ferzli concocted “Orthodox Gathering” proposal, which proposed that each sect voted for their own candidates on a proportional basis.
The second contentious issue is the electoral system itself that, under existing regulations, ushered in block votes, with voters asked to elect as many candidates as there are seats.
Those candidates on the “list” that garner the highest numbers win. Because Lebanon does not pre-print ballots, the system operates according to a party block in which voters cast a single vote for a slate, with the top vote gatherer carrying his entire list. In other words, if a politician received the highest number of votes in a district, his entire list will be elected even if secondary or tertiary candidates on opposing lists received more votes than those “elected” on the winner’s slate.
To address these shortcomings, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora appointed a 12-member expert panel in May 2006, under the chairmanship of Fouad Boutros, a well-liked retired foreign minister.
The Boutros Commission deliberated and proposed a mixed system with proportional representation at the bigger district level and a ‘winner takes all’ system in smaller districts.
Unfortunately, the Boutros proposal languished because of the 34-Day 2006 Hezbollah War with Israel and the subsequent political crisis that led to the 2008 Doha Accords.
Beyond electoral considerations, what is really at stake is the 2014 presidency. The electoral law rambling is seen as linked to behind the scenes agreements on composition of the government of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam and the subsequent distribution of ministerial portfolios, many of which are highly sensitive within the largely sectarian administration. These posts are usually the military and security posts.
If the Lebanese find a set of comprehensive political solutions, regardless of what electoral system is used to elect the next parliament, only then will the country be able to march forward and salvage its stability. If, on the other hand, no accord is foreseeable, then the repercussions of this political divide will continue to plague the country.
By Joseph Kechichian Senior Writer
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
