Once again, disputes delay Lebanese elections
Unless Lebanese politicians overcome their differences — or at least ignore them long enough to hold elections — the country could face another legislative vacuum.
Lebanon's parliamentary elections are languishing after being postponed for the third time since 2013. Officials estimate it could be months, or even a year, before they will be held.
The elections were to take place between May 20 and June 21. But because of a dispute over a proposed new law regarding the elections, the country missed a critical deadline. Lebanese law states voters must be informed 90 days before an election so they can prepare for the polls. March 21 came and went with no official announcement.
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and Prime Minister Saad Hariri of the Future Movement signed the decree in time, but President Michel Aoun refused twice, on Feb. 21 and March 20. Aoun declined because the elections would have been held based on the contested 1960 majoritarian (winner-take-all) law. In fact, Aoun, of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), said he would prefer a vacuum to holding elections based on the default 1960 law, which was used in the 2009 elections. The law allows Muslim leaders to choose Christian members of parliament in some constituencies.
Aoun, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are insisting on the "total proportionality" system. Hariri, Democratic Gathering leader Walid Jumblatt and the Lebanese Forces want either a hybrid law or the majoritarian system, which would yield the same results as before, granting their alliance — the March 14 Coalition — the majority of seats in parliament.
