Paul Mourani’s Proposed Draft Electoral Law1-49 districts, 132 seats, a real “Mounassafeh” and bridges between communities
The electoral proposal below bestows upon Muslims and Christians equal elective power as it allows each religious community to elect the same number of deputies just as in the Orthodox Gathering draft law.
What distinguishes this proposal is that although Muslims and Christians vote in separate districts, they have to vote for an equal number of Muslim and Christian deputies in each district. For instance, in a 2-seat Christian district, Christian voters have to vote for one Christian and one Muslim representative. In a 6-seat Muslim district, Muslims would have to cast their ballots for 3 Muslim representatives and 3 Christian ones. Ballots that do not contain an equal number of Muslim and Christian candidates would be annulled. The proposal does not, however, impose a closed-list system, in order to avoid automatic trade-offs between communities.
The proposal satisfies three important conditions. It exactly respects the “Mounassafeh” principle, which is a fundamental tenet of the Taef Constitution. It strikes a just balance between direct community representation and the building of bridges between religious groups. Half the deputies would be elected directly by their own communities, and would be their voice in Parliament. The other half would be elected by voters from a different religion, and would be a strong moderate center in Parliament, changing the tone of the political discourse.
At a more basic level, the requirement that voters select their representatives equally from the two religious groups, would disrupt their sectarian attitudes and help build a genuine partnership between Muslims and Christians, thus conditioning minds to accept the eventual elimination of political sectarianism.
Number of MPs
Mourani suggests raising the number of MPs from 128 to 132 with a 50/50 split between the two religious groups as illustrated in Table 1. The 4 additional seats would be for the Sunni, the Shia’a, the Maronite and the minorities.
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Parliamentary Seats by Sect |
Table 1 |
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Sects |
Proposed Seats |
2009 Seats |
|
Christian |
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|
Maronite |
35 |
34 |
|
Greek Orthodox |
14 |
14 |
|
Greek Catholic |
8 |
8 |
|
Armenian Orthodox |
5 |
5 |
|
Armenian Catholic |
1 |
1 |
|
Evangelical |
1 |
1 |
|
Minorities |
2 |
1 |
|
Total Christian seats |
66 |
64 |
|
Muslim |
||
|
Sunni |
28 |
27 |
|
Shia’a |
28 |
27 |
|
Druze |
8 |
8 |
|
Alawis |
2 |
2 |
|
Total Muslim seats |
66 |
64 |
|
Total seats |
132 |
128 |
District distribution
The proposed formula divides Lebanon into 49 districts, as illustrated in Tables 2 to 6. There will be 16 Muslim districts with 66 seats, while another 66 seats will be assigned to 33 Christian districts. As previously mentioned, Muslims and Christians will obtain equal number of seats in each district and Mohafaza as follows:
- Beirut: 10 districts of which 5 are Muslim and 5 Christian, with each electing 2 deputies.
- Mount Lebanon: 36 seats are assigned to this 16-district Mohafaza, with 10 deputies to be elected in 3 Muslim districts and 26 in 13 Christian districts.
- North: 28 seats are assigned to this 9-district Mohafaza. The seats are distributed equally with 2 Muslim districts electing 14 deputies, and 7 Christian districts electing 14 deputies.
- Beqa’a: 24 seats are assigned to this 8-district Mohafaza, 14 of which are elected in 3 Muslim districts and 10 in the 5 Christian ones.
- South and Nabatieh: A total of 6 districts electing 24 seats, of which 18 are assigned to 3 Muslim districts and 6 to the 3 Christian ones.
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Distribution of electoral districts by seat and number of voters |
Table 2 |
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Beirut |
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District |
No. of voters |
No. of seats |
Distribution of seats by sect |
|
|
Muslim Beirut 1 |
53,498 |
2 |
Sunni:1 Armenian Orthodox:1 |
|
|
Muslim Beirut 2 |
53,498 |
2 |
Sunni:1 Evangelical: 1 |
|
|
Muslim Beirut 3 |
53,498 |
2 |
Sunni:1 Greek Orthodox: 1 |
|
|
Muslim Beirut 4 |
53,498 |
2 |
Sunni: 1 Armenian Catholic: 1 |
|
|
Muslim Beirut 5 |
53,498 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Armenian Orthodox: 1 |
|
|
Christian Beirut 1 |
35,972 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian Beirut 2 |
35,171 |
2 |
Armenian Orthodox: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
|
Christian Beirut 3 |
35,972 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Druze: 1 |
|
|
Christian Beirut 4 |
35,972 |
2 |
Greek Catholic: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian Beirut 5 |
36,775 |
2 |
Minorities: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Total |
447,352 |
20 |
|
|
|
10 Christian seats: Armenian Orthodox (3), Greek Orthodox (2), Evangelical (1), Minorities (1), Maronite (1), Greek Catholic (1), Armenian Catholic (1) 10 Muslim seats: Sunni (7), Shia’a (2), Druze (1) |
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Distribution of electoral districts by seat and number of voters |
Table 3 |
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|
South and Nabatieh |
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District |
No. of voters |
No. of seats |
Distribution of seats by sect |
|
Muslim South 1 |
68,732 |
2 |
Sunni:1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Muslim South 2 |
68,732 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Muslim South 3 |
481,118 |
14 |
Shia’a: 7 Maronite: 5 Greek Catholic: 1 Greek Orthodox: 1 |
|
Christian South 1 |
41,351 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Druze: 1 |
|
Christian South 2 |
40,335 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
Christian South 3 |
42,367 |
2 |
Greek Catholic: 1 Shia’ |
|
Total |
742,635 |
24 |
|
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12 Christian seats: Maronite (8), Greek Orthodox (2), Greek Catholic (2) 12 Muslim seats: Sunni (2), Shia’a (9), Druze (1) |
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Distribution of electoral districts by seat and number of voters |
Table 4 |
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|
Beqa’a |
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District |
No. of voters |
No. of seats |
Distribution of seats by sect |
|
Muslim Beqa’a 1 |
107,840 |
4 |
Sunni:2 Greek Catholic: 1 Maronite 1 |
|
Muslim Beqa’a 2 |
53,920 |
2 |
Druze: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Muslim Beqa’a 3 |
215,683 |
8 |
Shia’a: 4 Greek Orthodox: 2 Greek Catholic: 1 Armenian Orthodox: 1 |
|
Christian Beqa’a 1 |
31,988 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Christian Beqa’a 2 |
31,138 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Christian Beqa’a 3 |
31,988 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Christian Beqa’a 4 |
31,988 |
2 |
Greek Catholic: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
Christian Beqa’a 5 |
32,840 |
2 |
Greek Catholic: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Total |
537,385 |
24 |
|
|
12 Christian seats: Maronite (4), Greek Orthodox (3), Greek Catholic (4), Armenian Orthodox (1) 12 Muslim seats: Shia’a (8), Sunni (3), Druze (1) |
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Distribution of electoral districts by seat and number of voters |
Table 5 |
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|
Mount Lebanon |
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District |
No. of voters |
No. of seats |
Distribution of seats by sect |
|
Muslim Mount Lebanon 1 |
164,964 |
6 |
Druze: 3 Maronite: 3 |
|
Muslim Mount Lebanon 2 |
54,988 |
2 |
Sunni: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Muslim Mount Lebanon 3 |
54,988 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 1 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 2 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 3 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 4 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 5 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 6 |
39,329 |
2 |
Shia’a: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 7 |
39,329 |
2 |
Druze: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 8 |
39,329 |
2 |
Druze: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 9 |
39,329 |
2 |
Sunni: 1 Maronite: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 10 |
39,324 |
2 |
Sunni: 1 Minorities: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 11 |
39,329 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 12 |
39,329 |
2 |
Armenian Orthodox: 1 Shia’a: 1 |
|
Christian Mount Lebanon 13 |
39,329 |
2 |
Greek Catholic: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
Total |
786,212 |
36 |
|
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18 Christian seats: Maronite (14), Greek Orthodox (1), Greek Catholic (1), Armenian Orthodox (1), Minorities (1) 18 Muslim seats: Shia’a (9), Sunni (4), Druze (5) |
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Distribution of electoral districts by seat and number of voters |
Table 6 |
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North |
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District |
No. of voters |
No. of seats |
Distribution of seats by sect |
|
|
Muslim North 1 |
61,671 |
2 |
Alawi: 1 Greek Orthodox: 1 |
|
|
Muslim North 2 |
370,068 |
12 |
Sunni: 6 Maronite: 4 Greek Orthodox: 2 |
|
|
Christian North 1 |
45,822 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Alawi: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 2 |
45,822 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 3 |
45,822 |
2 |
Greek Orthodox: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 4 |
45,822 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 5 |
45,822 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 6 |
45,822 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Christian North 7 |
45,823 |
2 |
Maronite: 1 Sunni: 1 |
|
|
Total |
752,494 |
28 |
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14 Christian seats: Maronite (8), Greek Orthodox (6) 14 Muslim seats: Sunni (12), Alawi (2) |
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1 The detailed proposal by the author can be viewed at:
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