With parliament working to decide on an appropriate electoral law to use in elections later this year, an old proposal has reemerged from the dustbin to take headlines this past week. The Orthodox Gathering’s proposed draft law gained attention when the four major Christian parties agreed to back it in a meeting last Monday. While members of Christian parties support the draft law, other figures have directed criticism in its direction.

 

“This is not an ideal law,” said Dr. Sami Nader, political analyst and professor at Universite Saint Joseph. “This defies the principles of citizenship and modernity in terms of building a modern state.” Nader added however that the issue of “Christian frustration” must be dealt with. “Christians have 50 percent of the [parliament seats] but practically they have less than a third,” he said, referring to districts like south Lebanon or the Bekaa, where small Christian communities’ votes are drowned out due to much larger Muslim communities. The Orthodox Gathering proposal would turn Lebanon into one large electoral district where each citizen votes only for members of their respective sect. [Link]