Editing Elections in Lebanon (section)

=== Taif Agreement ===
Lebanon's [[List of national legislatures|national legislature]] is called the [[Parliament of Lebanon|Chamber of Deputies]] ({{langx|ar|مجلس النواب|Majlis An-Nouwab}}). Since the elections of 1992 (the first since the reforms of the [[Taif Agreement]] of 1989) removed the built-in majority previously enjoyed by Christians, the Parliament is composed of 128 seats with a term of four years.

Seats in the Parliament are ''confessionally distributed'' but elected by ''[[universal suffrage]].'' Each religious community has an allotted number of seats in the Parliament (see the table below). They do not represent only their co-religionists, however; all candidates in a particular constituency, regardless of religious affiliation, must receive a plurality of the total vote, which includes followers of all confessions. The system was designed to minimize inter-sectarian competition and maximize cross-confessional cooperation: candidates are opposed only by co-religionists, but must seek support from outside their own faith in order to be elected.

In practice, this system has led to charges of [[gerrymandering]]. The opposition [[Qornet Shehwan Gathering]], a group opposed to the previous pro-[[Syria]]n governments, has claimed that constituency boundaries have been drawn so as to allow many [[Shi'a]] Muslims to be elected from Shi'a-majority constituencies (where the [[Hezbollah]] Party is strong), while allocating many Christian members to Muslim-majority constituencies, forcing Christian politicians to represent Muslim interests. Similar charges, but in reverse, were made against the [[Camille Chamoun|Chamoun]] administration in the 1950s.

The following table sets out the confessional allocation of seats in the Parliament before and after the [[Taif Agreement]].

{{Reserved seats in Lebanon}}

Before the next election,{{When|date=August 2020}} the electoral law will be reformed.<ref>[http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=317138] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003014857/http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=317138|date=2011-10-03}}</ref> Among the changes most likely are a reduction of the voting age from 21 to 18, a more proportional electoral system, reforms to the oversight of elections and an invitation for [[Lebanese diaspora|Lebanese voters from abroad]] to register in the embassies, although there is no clear promise of them being able to vote from abroad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Article.aspx?id=149797#axzz1ZYYSPfn1|title=Reform groups rally in favor of proportional representation following stall in negotiations|website=www.dailystar.com.lb}}</ref>

Especially outside the major cities, elections tend to focus more on local than national issues, and it is not unusual for a party to join an electoral ticket in one constituency while aligned with a rival party – even an ideologically opposite party – in another constituency.

Lebanese presidential elections are indirect, with the [[List of Presidents of Lebanon|President]] being elected to a 6-year term by the Parliament.