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The Lebanese Parliamentary Elections:
A Surprise, But No Real Change
By Doreen Khoury
Lebanon’s recent parliamentary elections, which resulted in a surprise victory for the pro-Western March 14 coalition after months of prediction that the Opposition would win, contradicted many of the myths and narratives that had surrounded the election since the signing of the Doha Accord in May 2008. Myths that were disproved were linked to each camp’s strengths and weaknesses as well as an overestimation of the election’s significance in terms of Lebanon’s future.
Lebanon’s elections were ‘fateful’ in that the March 14 win spared the country the international and regional isolation that would have most likely followed an Opposition victory. However the elections largely failed in terms of representing a step forward in democratic practices, because the new electoral law aggravated sectarianism, and did not effect a change in Lebanon’s electoral culture. The election highlighted once again the need for extensive reform to the electoral system and the Lebanese political system as whole. Read... | 
