Some campaigns immediately started to do some soul-searching to figure out why, while others remained in denial and dismissed it as just the carelessness of youth and their preoccupation with matters they find more interesting on a Sunday off, such as going to the beach or camping somewhere, maybe even nursing a hangover from the night before, despite the state-imposed curfew that shut most clubs and pubs down on the eve of the elections.
Weeks after the fateful day, which regenerated almost the same parliament, the reasons so many young Lebanese voters stayed away from the ballot box have become clearer.
The first, and perhaps most potent reason, is a severe lack of trust in Lebanon’s institutions. Rampant corruption, an unabashed culture of clientelism and a complete lack of accountability is a reality that 21 to 30-year-olds grew up in. This makes the «Post-War Generation» skeptical of any initiative taken by the Lebanese government, especially elections that might threaten the current status quo. This lack of trust automatically translates into a lack of enthusiasm to participate in Lebanon’s political process. «Nothing will change» has been hammered into young minds for decades, and it has successfully kept them away from casting their votes on the first Sunday of May 2018 and participating in political life.
The second reason is the absence of a relatively impartial media landscape. In a country where evening news bulletins begin with a 2-minute «introduction» to the news, priming viewers on how to feel about the day’s events, getting a sense of what really is happening is often difficult. The biased traditional media landscape is coupled with a series of online «trends» that are carefully organized and orchestrated by tight-knit groups, who vote on what position to push for, and coordinate posting times, shares and retweets to make certain topics or issues become the top trend of the day, even when the reality on the ground and offline is far from it. This makes misinformation extremely difficult and time-consuming to rectify for the average reader, listener or viewer, and the consensus that TV channels and radio stations are mouthpieces for different groups, makes staying up to speed with what’s happening a cumbersome task many of the Post-War Generation no longer bother with. This reality is even reflected in plummeting ad revenue for traditional news organizations, given advertisers want to pay top dollar for the very target audience that no longer watches or trusts the news (21–35 year olds)…
The third and probably most direct reason, is the complexity of the electoral law and the gerrymandering of districts that electrifies politically-affiliated youth, but deflates the hopes of young men and women who do not subscribe to a certain political party. The 2018 elections saw a new law, with a stated proportionality clause that was rendered virtually meaningless with majority «preferential votes» deciding the winners. Apart from a meek billboard campaign by the Interior Affairs Ministry, and a few independent initiatives to educate and inform would-be voters of the new law, not enough was done to explain how it works and what changed from the time most first-time voters were taught about elections in their Civics classes at school.
Gerrymandered districts gave an unfair advantage to political parties in their perceived areas of influence, further eroding young men and women’s will and drive to go out and vote knowing that the winners and their shares of the seats have already been pre-determined. Add to the fact that the voters can only cast their ballots in their hometowns, and a large portion of Lebanon’s youth has moved away from the more rural parts of the country, the desire to elect representatives of a district they do not live in, did not grow up in and do not see themselves moving back, dwindles.
All of the above, plus many other more subtle factors, have kept young voters away from the ballot boxes. This illustrates a dire need to reform the electoral law, making it more inclusive and more representative. The severe lack of trust is also an uphill battle that needs to be tackled, if Lebanon’s young men and women are to start participating more heavily in the political process that affects their daily lives and future livelihoods. If Lebanon hopes for a better turn out of young voters in 2022, vital reforms need to be implemented in order to help maintain and build the peace in Lebanese communities. Peace building by making sure segments like the youth, women and the politically unaffiliated are better represented in the halls of the parliament, the halls that legislative reform Lebanon so desperately needs will arise from.