History

Lebanon gained its independence from France in 1943. Until the mid 1960s Lebanon was the "Paris" of the Middle East. This was due to the country's liberal political system which was more open than any other Arab country in the region. However the development of Lebanon's political system in the late 1960s changed from its former liberal nature. This was due to direct foreign intervention affecting Lebanon's population as well as the sensitivity of the Lebanese political system towards regional events.  

The key to understanding Lebanon's political complexions lies in the religious composition of the country. The Lebanese population comprises of a number of sects from the Islamic (Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri) and Christian religion (Maronite Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant). All   groups have claimed a stake in Lebanon's political affairs based on the right of representation for their religious sect. Although all groups fiercely claim to be patriotic and independent, all major religious groups at one time or another have directly involved a major foreign power militarily and politically in Lebanon's affairs as means of achieving their own goals. Some have compared Lebanon's political development for the last four decades can be described as the Middle East's reality based soap opera show.

Lebanon has been marked by foreign invasions, bloody internal civil war, foreign peace mediation, foreign peace intervention, failed peace agreements, assassinations, mass killings, inter religious fighting and inter community fighting. This includes Leftist Sunni Muslims, Iranian government backed fundamentalist Shiites, Druze, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, The Israeli Army, Pro Syrian Phalangist Christians, Pro Israeli Phalangist Christians, Anti Syrian Phalangist Christians, Iraq backed Pan Arab Nasserists, as well as Israel and Syrian backed Presidents at different times.

The Taif

The Lebanese civil war finished in 1991 based on the 'Taif" agreement which marked the cessation of the Civil war. The agreement illustrated "A blueprint for national reconciliation. The new composition of the Lebanese political system is thus based on the proportional representation of the country's religious minorities. As a result Lebanon's constitution was changed where power is now shared on a 50:50 basis between Christian and Muslims. Prior to the civil war political power was mainly in the hands of the Christians as they were the majority. Today the number of different religious representations in Lebanon's political posts reads like the list at an inter-faith conference. The President is to come from the Christian Maronite faith, Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, Speaker of the Parliament Shiite Muslim and the deputy Prime Minister and deputy Speaker of Parliament are to come from the Greek Orthodox minority.

The internal security situation began to improve after the signing of the Taif agreement. Apart from Israeli - Hezbollah military engagements, the fighting in Lebanon stopped. The climax of return to peace on the streets of Lebanon came in 1999 when Israel withdrew its forces from south Lebanon. However the Taif agreement also created new challenges for the political Lebanese spectrum. The major issue being that the Taif agreement allowed Syria to have a direct say in Lebanon's security and political affairs. Although Syrian forces entered the country in 1976 through invitation by Lebanon's Christians, later on many Christian groups turned to object Syria's military and political presence in the country.

After many years of growing resentment, anti-Syrian emotions exploded in Lebanon after the assassination of Lebanon's ex Premier Rafiq Harriri in December 2004. Blaming Syria for the assassination, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese poured onto the streets and demanded that Syria complies with UN resolution 1559 and leaves Lebanese soil. After months of growing political pressure from within Lebanon and the Arab world, supplemented by economic threats made by the US and the EU Syria finally pulled out its forces at the end of April 2005.

Political Bodies and Elections

According to the UN , Lebanon is a parliamentary democracy in which the people constitutionally have the right to change their government. This was suspended during the civil war, however elections started again in 1992 after the end of the civil war. According to the constitution, direct elections must be held for the parliament every 4 years. Parliament, in turn, elects a president every 6 years.

The President

The President of Lebanon must be a Christian Maronite elected by a two-thirds majority of the legislature, and he heads the executive branch of the Lebanese Republic. If no candidates are able to meet the two-thirds majority requirement in the first round of voting, voting proceeds to the second round. In this round, an absolute majority suffices to elect the president. The president holds a six-year term, and may be re-elected only after a break of six years. The last presidential election was conducted in 1998, but instead of holding a new one in 2004, the parliament passed a constitutional amendment to extend the incumbent president's term exceptionally for an additional three years. This however was annulled after the assassination of Rafiq Harriri.

Parliament

Lebanon has one legislative body which is the National Assembly, composed of the Chamber of Deputies (Majlis al-Nuwwab). The 128 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected by popular vote for four-year terms. Candidates must be at least 25 years of age. Candidates are elected by a party-list system from five multi-member constituencies, which correspond to the five governorates. Seats vacated in between elections are filled through by-elections. The 128 seats are equally divided between the Christian and Muslim communities. The seats granted to each community are further subdivided between various sects based on their proportions in the Lebanese population.

Citizens vote for all candidates, not just members of their own religious orientation. The country is divided into 13 electoral districts, and in each district there are lists of candidates from the various religious communities from among whom voters may choose, although a fixed number of candidates from each list must be elected. Some candidates belong to various political parties but most of these parties are in fact local, and represent the local political or confessional interests. These groupings then form informal alliances in the Assembly

Last elections were on four consecutive Sundays in 2005, starting from May 29 and finishing on June 19. Saad Hariri's anti Syrian coalition which included Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party won the highest number of seats. Hezbollah and Amal coalition won the second highest number of seats. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement coalition which included pro Syrian Christians such as Franjieh won the third highest number of seats in the parliament.

2006 Conflicts

In a surprise attack on the Israeli northern border in July of 2006, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. The attack provoked an escalation into a full scale military conflict that lasted 34 days. It ended with a UN resolution – UNSCR 1701 – which called for a joint peace keeping force and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Following these events, in December of 2006 a series of political events and demonstrations shook the already unstable government headed by Fouad Siniora. The conflict is part of the wider dispute regarding Syrian involvement in Lebanon, the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, and wider sectarian claims towards the Lebanese government.

The opposition is led by groups in Lebanon that oppose the current government. The opposition group is made up of pro-Syrian, Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Amal , and the formerly anti-Syrian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). On the other side of this dispute stand the majority of the members of the current government - the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance , a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon. Prominent against them are Lebanese Sunnis headed by Saad Hariri, Druze headed by Walid Jumbalat's progressive socialist party and a number of Christian parties.

The struggle also divides clearly along sectarian lines. Sunnis and Druze support the current government, while the Shi'a align themselves with the opposition group. The Christian community is split between the two factions.

The opposition seeks a unity government, in which it will possess a critical proportion – allowing it to veto decisions and/or call for new elections. On the other side, the current government majority, is calling for new elections to be held for the presidency of Lebanon – a post which has already been extended by three years, further to its six constitutional years.

In the process of these mass demonstrations and sit-ins, the dispute has taken a violent turn, making it hard to predict the outcome of this complicated situation. Further to the resignation of the opposition ministers from the cabinet, its leaders have called for immediate elections.

By: Meir Javedanfar and Tal Gurevich- http://www.meepas.com/

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