Beirut, September 25: Lebanon’s June election was devoid of any major irregularities but reforms are needed to ensure more transparency and better representation, the European Union said on Friday in its final report on the vote.
“While June’s parliamentary elections benefited from legal improvements introduced last year, work still remains to be done to bring Lebanon’s electoral system into line with the country’s international commitments,” Jose Ignacio Salafranca, who led the EU’s observation mission to the vote in June, told a press conference.
“The high voter turnout at the parliamentary polls showed a sincere engagement by the electorate in the process,” added Salafranca, a Spanish member of the European Parliament who led a team of 100 EU observers.
“I encourage all citizens to take an active interest in further electoral reforms which have the support of a wide spectrum of civil society and political leaders.”
Among the 36 recommendations made by the EU is for Lebanon to gradually reduce emphasis on confessionalism in the electoral system, introduce a degree of proportionality, the use of officially printed ballots, and establish an independent election management body as well as better representation for women.
The report also noted that a law that prevents Lebanese women from passing on their citizenship if married to a foreign national was discriminatory as it barred their offspring from voting.
Out of 587 candidates in the run-up to the vote, 12 were women and only four were elected to the 128-seat parliament.
The winning alliance headed by Saad Hariri won 71 seats in the 128-member parliament in the election against 57 for the opposition led by Hezbollah.
The Hezbollah opposition had actually secured the majority (52%) of the votes in Lebanon, but could not secure a majority of Parliamentary seats (it won 45%) because of the nature of the sectarian government system in the country.
Hariri was appointed premier after the vote but has failed so far in his bid to form a cabinet because of continued bickering with his rivals over the distribution of portfolios.
—Agencies