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Lebanon needs new electoral law, then a president

The core of the crisis of the Lebanese national pact is the absence of an electoral law that represents the sects fairly, especially the Christians.
Outgoing Lebanese President Michel Sleiman gestures beside his wife during his farewell ceremony at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut May 24, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir  (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3QNBY
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Lebanon failed to elect a president in accordance with the provisions and deadlines specified in the constitution. Lebanon chose to have a presidential vacuum, as a kind of nihilism. Ironically, Lebanon chose the vacuum under the heading of the “national pact,” which is the unwritten agreement laying down the foundation of the country's confessional system. It’s as if having a vacuum is the fate of this small country, which in the absence of national consensus has been turned into a land of conflicts among major regional powers.

The members of parliament from the March 8 coalition who boycotted the electoral sessions and sabotaged the election did so by claiming their adherence to the national pact, whereby the sects must agree on a certain issue. In other words, electing a president is governed by the sects reaching an agreement, which is in fact the sects’ leaders striking a deal. Here, it must be noted that the blocs' representative nature and their leaders are already in crisis because they are themselves the product of an unfair electoral law that violates the national pact. It is worth mentioning that this law does not represent the sects fairly, especially the Christian sect, and does not take into account the 50-50 Christian-Muslim rule, which is a pillar of the national pact.

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