The Boutros Election Law

The most progressive Lebanese electoral law proposal is gathering dust because none of the parties wants real change.

One of the most notable exchanges in yesterday’s stalemated quadripartite meeting is the one that took place between Mr. Hariri and Mr. Aoun over the adoption of the 1960’s electoral law.

According to Annahar, Mr. Hariri refused to use the law in future elections. He also said that he doesn’t mind people saying that he was against it because “a lot has changed since 1960.” Of course Mr. Aoun rushed to score political points since the pre-Taef 1960’s law, with its small districts, is seen as favorable to Christians.

Mr. Hariri is right, a lot has changed since 1960s. But neither he, nor Mr. Aoun cared to mention, let alone discuss its modern alternative, namely Mr. Fouad Boutros’ progressive proposal.

The law proposal which was commissioned in 2005 and released in May 2006 was revolutionary by Lebanese standards. It was a hybrid of winner-takes-all and proportional representation. It lowered the voting age to 18, allowed the diaspora to vote, proposed an independent electoral commission and included a quota for Women.

All this proved too much for our politicians who are dreading the wave of new voters (youngsters and the diaspora). In all their meetings to reach compromise, non of our esteemed leaders brought up Mr. Boutros’ law. 

A cynic would think that they were all happy that the July War killed it before parliament had the chance to vote on it.