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All 128 seats to the Parliament of Lebanon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 43.29% ( 12.94pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in Lebanon between 18 August and 15 September 1996. [1] Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 43.3%. [2]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amal Movement | 8 | +3 | |||
| Hezbollah | 7 | –1 | |||
| Syrian Social Nationalist Party | 5 | –1 | |||
| Progressive Socialist Party | 5 | 0 | |||
| Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party | 2 | 0 | |||
| Islamic Group | 1 | –2 | |||
| Toilers League | 1 | 0 | |||
| Popular Nasserist Organization | 1 | 0 | |||
| Promise Party | 1 | 0 | |||
| Armenian Revolutionary Federation | 1 | 0 | |||
| Social Democrat Hunchakian Party | 1 | 0 | |||
| Armenian Democratic Liberal Party | 1 | +1 | |||
| Arab Democratic Party | 0 | –1 | |||
| Al-Ahbash | 0 | –1 | |||
| Kataeb Party | 0 | New | |||
| Independents | 94 | +2 | |||
| Total | 128 | +29 | |||
| Total votes | 1,113,130 | – | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,571,476 | 43.29 | |||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | |||||
Of the 94 independent MPs, 66 were considered to be members of various blocs: [3]
The elections were held over five successive Sundays. The first, 18 August, were held for the thirty-five seats allocated to Mount Lebanon. This included North Metn, Keserwan & Byblos, Baabda, Chouf & Aley. Hariri allies won 32 of the seats with a turnout of 45%. In August the Constitutional Court had ruled that the allocation of five districts to the Chouf was invalid since it treated districts differently. The allocation was widely seen as a mechanism that ensured Walid Jumblatt’s election. Parliament overruled the Courts objection citing “exceptional circumstances”. [4] Some of these districts faced a boycott by supporters of general Michel Aoun and of the Lebanese Forces. In the Chouf Jumblatt faced opposition from fellow Druze Talal Arslan. Elie Hobeika was standing in Baabda and had support from Hizbullah.
The second round, 25 August, was for the twenty-eight seats in North Lebanon. The majority of the candidates here were pro-Syrian and voting was based on family and clan affiliations. Sunni boss Omar Karami was elected as was the young Maronite Suleiman Franjieh.
In Greater Beirut Rafik Hariri was reported to have spent $5 million campaigning and his allies won 13 of the 19 seats. His rival Selim Hoss was elected, as was independent Tamam Salam and Hariri critic Najah Wakim (Greek Orthodox). Hizbullah MP Muhammad Barjawi lost his seat.
The South Lebanon voting, 8 September, 14 of the 23 seats allocated to Shia candidates under Lebanons confessional system. One analyst estimated that Hizbullah would win 60% of the vote in a straight contest due to their popularity for their part in the reconstruction work following the Israeli bombardment in April. Their rival Amal were designated 17 seats and Hizbullah 4 in the joint Shia list. Voting in Sidon was slit between Bahia Hariri, the Nasserist Mustapha Saad and an Amal candidate.
The Beqaa vote took place on 15 September with 14 of the 23 seats reserved for Shia candidates. On 28 August Hassan Nasrallah had announced the fielding of an independent Hizbullah list. After two days of intense negotiations in Damascus this list was replaced by a list led by Hussein Husseini an old style Shia politician and rival of both Amal and Hizbullah.
The final results gave the Hariri block 20 MPs; Nabih Berri of Amal led a cross-confessional block of 20; the Jumblatt block had 10; Hizbullah had 7 MPs plus 2 allies; Michel Murr (SSNP) had 5 and Elias Hrawi had 4. Hariri's government was left facing an opposition of around 20 MPs. These included Salim Hoss, Omar Karami, Najam Wakim, Hussein Husseini, Sulayman Franjieh and the Hizbullah bloc. [5]
In May 1997, following a Judicial review of seventeen of the contests, four MPs lost their seats due to serious electoral infractions. They were Fawzi Hubaysh, Minister of Culture, Akkar; Emile Nawfal, Byblos; Henri Shadid and Khaled Daher. [6]
In November 1997 the Constitutional Court ruled against the new government's decision to postpone local elections for two years. There had been no local elections since 1963. It had been originally announced that the elections would take place in April 1998. Under the Lebanese system voters were registered by their place of birth. There were fifteen thousand positions to be filled. Municipal funds had not been dispersed since the 1980s. Local elections were promised as part of the Taif agreement. It was speculated that amongst the reasons for the delay was the possible negative outcome for some of the leaders of the major blocs. Nabih Berri was believed to lack grassroots support. Rafic Hariri was likely to lose his home town of Sidon. Interior Minister Michel Murr proposed that council members should be appointed in the security zone. [7]
The Progressive Socialist Party is a Lebanese political party. Its confessional base is in the Druze sect and its regional base is in Mount Lebanon Governorate, especially the Chouf District. Founded by Kamal Jumblatt in 1949, the party was led by his son Walid Jumblatt between 1977 and 25 May 2023. On 25 June 2023 the son of Walid, Taymur Jumblatt, was officially consecrated as leader of the PSP.
Walid Kamal Jumblatt is a Lebanese politician who was the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party from 1977 until 2023. A Druze and former militia commander, Jumblatt led the Lebanese National Resistance Front and allied with the Amal Movement during the Lebanese Civil War. He worked closely with Suleiman Frangieh to oppose Amine Gemayel's rule as president in 1983. After the civil war, he initially supported Syria but later led an anti-Assad stance during the start of the Syrian Civil War. He is still active in politics, most recently leading his party, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in the 2022 Lebanese general election.
Nabih Mustafa Berri is a Lebanese politician who has been serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon since 1992. He heads the Amal Movement and its parliamentary wing, Development and Liberation Bloc.
The Taif Agreement, officially known as the National Reconciliation Accord, was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon". Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the 15 year-long Lebanese Civil War, and reassert the Lebanese government's authority in southern Lebanon, which was controlled at the time by the Christian-separatist South Lebanon Army under the occupational hegemony of Israel. Though the agreement set a time frame for withdrawal of Syrian military forces from Lebanon, stipulating that the Syrian occupation end within two years, Syria did not withdraw its forces from the country until 2005. It was signed on 22 October 1989 and ratified by the Lebanese parliament on 5 November, 1989.
The Amal Movement is a Lebanese political party and militia affiliated mainly with the Shia community of Lebanon. It was founded by Musa al-Sadr and Hussein el-Husseini in 1974 as the "Movement of the Deprived." The party has been led by Nabih Berri since 1980.
The Lebanese Parliament is the unicameral national parliament of the Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's diverse Christian and Muslim denominations but with half of the seats reserved for Christians and half for Muslims per Constitutional Article 24. Lebanon has universal adult suffrage. The parliament's major functions are to elect the President of the republic, to approve the government, and to approve laws and expenditure.
The Marada Movement is a Lebanese political party and a former militia active during the Lebanese Civil War named after the legendary Marada warriors of the early Middle Ages that fought on the external edge of the Byzantine Empire. Originally designated the Marada Brigade, the group initially emerged as the personal militia of Suleiman Frangieh, president of Lebanon at the outbreak of the war in 1975, which also had a Parliamentary wing known as the Frangieh Bloc. They were also initially known as the Zgharta Liberation Army, after Frangieh's hometown of Zgharta in northern Lebanon.
The Free Patriotic Movement is a Lebanese political party. Founded by Michel Aoun in 1994, the party is currently led by Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil since 2015.
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese Christian-based political party and former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament, being the largest party of the country.
Michel Murr was a Lebanese politician and businessman. He served as member of parliament, deputy prime minister and interior minister and was a prominent lawmaker in the northern Metn region.
Along with the Amal Movement, Hezbollah is one of the two main parties representing the Shia community, Lebanon's largest religious bloc. Amal has made a commitment to carrying out its activities through political means, but remains a partial fighting force aiding Hezbollah when the need arises.
General elections were held in Lebanon between 23 August and 11 October 1992, the first since 1972. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 30.3%.
General elections were held in Lebanon between 27 August and 3 September 2000 to elect the 128 members of the Parliament of Lebanon. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 40.5%.
Farid Nabil Makari was a Lebanese politician.
Beirut II was a parliamentary constituency in Lebanon. It covered three neighbourhoods (quartiers) in the north-eastern parts of the capital; Port, Medawar and Bachoura. The constituency elected four members of the National Assembly. Two of the Beirut II MPs had to be Armenian Orthodox, 1 Sunni Muslim and 1 Shia Muslim. The constituency was created with the 2008 Doha Agreement, ahead of the 2009 parliamentary election.
General elections were held in Lebanon on 6 May 2018. Although originally scheduled for 2013, the election was postponed three times in 2013, 2014 and 2017 for various reasons, including the security situation, the failure of the Parliament to elect a new President, and the technical requirements of holding an election. A new electoral law adopted in 2017 provides a proportional representation system for the first time.
Muhammad Baydoun was a moderate Lebanese politician and served as a member of the Lebanese parliament from 1992 until 2005. He also served as minister of power and energy as recently as 2005. He participated in many rallies organized by the 14 March coalition.
An indirect presidential election took place in Lebanon from 23 April 2014 until 31 October 2016. No candidate reached a two-thirds majority vote in the first round, and subsequent rounds failed to gain a quorum. Finally, in the second round of the forty-sixth session held on 31 October 2016, Michel Aoun, a member of parliament and formerly a disputed prime minister and acting president in a rival government near the end of the Lebanese Civil War, was elected with 83 votes by parliament. He took office the same day as the 13th President of Lebanon since independence in 1943.
The first cabinet of Rafic Hariri was the 61st government and one of the post-civil war governments of Lebanon. It was inaugurated on 31 October 1992 replacing the cabinet led by Rachid Solh.
