Sectarian Make-up of Voters

According to the following Table 1, the majority of Saida’s voters (82%) are Sunni. The rest of voters are scattered over minority groups belonging to the Shia’a, Greek Catholic, Maronite, Greek Orthodox and Armenian communities.

Source: 2013 list of voters

Mixed Marriages

Saida has a reputation for its abundant inter-religious marriages with thousands of partners professing different religions or sects choosing to enter into the wedlock and thus defy the social and religious limitations hindering their union. There are currently 2313 Sunni-Shia’a marriages, 430 Christian-Christian marriages and 244 Muslim-Christian ones.

• 1741 Shia’a women are married to Sunni men and 572 Sunni women are married to Shia’a men, thus bringing the total number of Sunni-Shia’a marital unions to 2313.
• 72 Greek Catholic women are married to Sunni men and 7 Sunni women are married to Greek Catholic men, thus bringing the total number of Sunni-Greek Catholic marital unions to 79.
• 12 Greek Catholic women are married to Shia’a men and 7 Shia’a women are married to Greek Catholic men, thus bringing the total number of Shia’a-Greek Catholic marital unions to 16.
• 6 Armenian Orthodox women are married to Sunni men and 1 Sunni woman is married to an Armenian Orthodox man, thus bringing the total number of Sunni-Armenian Orthodox marital unions to 7.
• 160 Maronite women are married to Greek Catholic men and 89 Greek Catholic women are married to Maronite men, thus bringing the total number of Maronite-Greek Catholic marital unions to 249.
• 44 Maronite women are married to Sunni men and 12 Sunni women are married to Maronite men, thus bringing the total number of Sunni-Maronite marital unions to 56.
• 7 Maronite women are married to Shia’a men and 4 Shia’a women are married to Maronite men, thus bringing the total number of Shia’a-Maronite marital unions to 11.
• 32 Greek Catholic women are married to Greek Orthodox men and 60 Greek Orthodox women are married to Greek Catholic men, thus bringing the total number of Greek Orthodox- Greek Catholic marital unions to 92.
• 12 Syrian Orthodox women are married to Sunni men and 1 Sunni woman is married to a Syrian Orthodox man, thus bringing the total number of Sunni- Syrian Orthodox marital unions to 13.
• 26 Evangelical women are married to Sunni men and 1 Sunni woman is married to an Evangelical man, thus bringing the total number of Sunni- Evangelical marital unions to 27.
• 32 Greek Orthodox women are married to Sunni men and 3 Sunni women are married to Greek Orthodox men, thus bringing the total number of Sunni- Greek Orthodox marital unions to 35.
• 34 Greek Orthodox women are married to Maronite men and 14 Maronite women are married to Greek Orthodox men, thus bringing the total number of Maronite- Greek Orthodox marital unions to 48.
• 12 Greek Orthodox women are married to Evangelical men and 2 Evangelical women are married to Greek Orthodox men, thus bringing the total number of Evangelical- Greek Orthodox marital unions to 14.
• 8 Evangelical women are married to Greek Catholic men and 5 Greek Catholic women are married to Evangelical men, thus bringing the total number of Evangelical-Greek Catholic marital unions to 13.
• 8 Evangelical women are married to Maronite men and 6 Maronite women are married to Evangelical men, thus bringing the total number of Evangelical-Maronite marital unions to 14.

Table 2 summarizes Saida’s inter-religious marriages.

Saida’s registered population is estimated at 80 000 people, over 12 000 or 15% of which live in mixed and diversified families.

NB: The above statistics do not include those mixed marriages where one of the spouses is below 21 years of age.