[Imc-beirut] Lebanon - Parliamentary Electoral Draft Law [Word attachment]

[sensenig]

Greetings from Beirut!

As things are heating up for tomorrow's massive anti-government demo, which might be the first step towards civil war, on the one hand, or finally prove the peaceful intensions of the opposition, on the other, many are concentrating on the post crisis period in which a new election law will be passed. 

I am including a Word attachment with the official Commission English translation of the draft act. Below I have highlighted the absentee voting paragraph.

Together, students and a few profs at USJ, AUB, LAU and NDU have set up a working group to go through the new draft law. 

LERC is supporting this process as a way of facilitating democratic reform in Lebanon. 

Best, Eugen Dabbous

Research Associate Eugène Richard Sensenig-Dabbous, MA, PhD
Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC)
Notre Dame University, Zouk Mosbeh campus
PO Box 72 Zouk Mikael, Lebanon
sdabbous at ndu.edu.lb or sensenig at cyberia.net.lb
office: +961-9-218950-ext: 2322
http://www.ndu.edu.lb/rfr.htm?http://www.ndu.edu.lb/research/lerc/ or www.libanlink.org 

====================
National Commission 

on the Parliamentary Electoral Law


Article 116

 

Voting of non-resident Lebanese citizens shall be governed by the provisions of Article 99 and subsequent articles herein. The following provisions shall be observed: 

 

1- At least two months before polling day, the Commission shall send each Lebanese embassy or consulate, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, CD-ROMs of the check lists of the Lebanese citizens reporting to this embassy or consulate.    

 

2- Each Lebanese embassy or consulate and each other place determined by the Commission in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign and Emigrant Affairs shall constitute a polling station.   

 

3- The Commission shall, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign and Emigrant Affairs, appoint a polling station panel made up of a head and a clerk from among the employees of the embassy or the consulate abroad. It shall also specify their powers in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign and Emigrant Affairs.   

The voter shall vote with his Lebanese ID card or a valid Lebanese passport. 



======  http://www.arab-reform.net/article.php3?id_article=272  ======

  Electoral Law Reform in Lebanon. The Experience and Recommendations of the National Commission 
  Paul Salem
  28 July 2006
  The last parliamentary elections of 2005 in Lebanon following Syria’s military withdrawal were a great missed opportunity for the holding of elections away from foreign manipulation, intimidation, and bargaining practices. In the eighty years of electoral life in Lebanon, including in the Taif agreement of 1989, election reforms were very limited. Acknowledging this problem, the government of Fouad Siniora established a National Commission to undertake a national dialogue on electoral reform and propose a new electoral law. Civil society, led by a number of NGOs, played an active role in the process. On the eve of the outbreak of war with Israel, the new draft law was being reviewed by the Council of Ministers before its submission to Parliament’s vote. If adopted, the law would introduce major changes in political practices in Lebanon, including a women’s quota of 30%, the establishment of an Independent Electoral Commission, strict rules on campaign finance and media regulations. The law would constitute one of the most progressive electoral laws in the Arab world. However, the new domestic and international context resulting from the war will be decisive in determining the fate of the law.



  Background: (...)