After five years of delay and three extensions of the mandate of the parliament, parliamentary elections were finally organized on May 6th, 2018. These elections were conducted under a new electoral law, which among other changes, included 15 electoral districts, and a proportional representation system with a preferential vote.
In terms of political participation, the 2018 parliamentary elections were characterized by a relatively low voter turnout of 49.7 percent nationally with «Beirut 1» registering the lowest (33.19 percent) and «Mount Lebanon 1» the highest turnout (67.09 percent). With an estimated number of more than a million voters who are not residing in the country, the turnout remained lower than in previous elections (52 percent in 2009).
For the first time, 82,970 Lebanese voters residing abroad, have casted their votes. Whilst out of country voting has remained modest, this new measure will pave the way for greater participation of registered voters living abroad.
These elections introduced important reforms, including the use of preprinted ballot, to ensure secrecy of voting, as well as out of country voting.
For the past six years, with the support of the European Union and more recently USAID, UNDP Electoral Assistance Project has been providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities on the organization of parliamentary elections. It has also supported the Supervisory Commission on Elections on the monitoring of media and campaign financing, as well as the Constitutional Council and the Shura Council on elections disputes.
The project also included the training of thousands of polling officials, the automation of candidates and a list of registration systems, the implementation of an automated result management system, the voters’ education campaigns as well as the technical support to women’s participation and representation.
Despite an increased level of electoral competitiveness with the total number of candidates jumping to 976, including 113 women candidates, women still, remain under represented. The increase of women candidates from 12 in 2009 to 86 (14.4%) in 2018, was not reflected in the number of seats won by women. The increase of women representation in parliament increased from 4 to 6 seats in 2018. This is a strong evidence that there is still a need to introduce special temporary measures, such as the quota, to increase women representation.
Another area that would require special attention in the years to come, is the safeguard of the rights to vote of people with disabilities, through accessible of polling stations.
Most importantly, the years to come should be an opportunity for the newly elected parliament to build trust with citizens, to ensure increased voters’ participation and consolidation of democratic elections.
The UN will continue to support electoral reforms in Lebanon, which is strategically linked to the achievement of the sustainable development goal No. 16 «Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions» as well as to the sustainable development goal No. 5 on achieving Gender equality. Both goals are key to achieve the 2030 development agenda in Lebanon.
The 2018 parliamentary elections were a step forward, and UNDP with the support of its partners, will assess the lessons learned from the 2018 elections, to develop the appropriate and most relevant priority areas of intervention towards achieving electoral reforms, democratic stability and participatory governance in Lebanon.