The heavily loaded Lebanese political agenda is witnessing yet another dilemma: which electoral law to adopt for the coming Lebanese parliamentary elections to be held in June, or perhaps postponed to a later date. Various factors lend an exceptional importance to these elections.
- The March 14 and March 8 coalitions are increasingly polarized by the Syrian crisis, the uncertainty of its developments and its extensive repercussions.
- The new chosen parliament will elect the next Lebanese president in 2014.
- The political stalemate, which is the result of an unstable and crippled parliamentary balance of power between the two key forces in Lebanon, must be broken. Both sides depend on the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt gaining a majority, and thus both remain hostages to his choices on an issue to issue basis, just like the current governmental situation.
For more than a year, several proposals have been under discussion. The proportional-representation system, which would move away from sectarianism and political feudalism, is currently rejected by the March 14 alliance for favoring their opponents in the current context of strong sectarianism. The return to the Qada system is becoming irrelevant due to the many changes in the country. Some suggest adapting it to the new variables as an acceptable alternative in the absence of others. There is the Orthodox gathering proposal to have each community choose its own representatives. The mixed electoral system of proportional representation has been suggested by the National Commission For the Reform of the Electoral Law, submitted in 2006. Other proposals suggest a hybrid of these, a compromise and a solution out of the current impasse.
