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In the Lebanese elections, you vote for a ‘list’ of candidates who run together from which you can choose a preferred candidate. Every Lebanese citizen votes for candidates from his/her electoral region, either in Lebanon or from abroad.
Almost every electoral region will have an independent, non-sectarian ‘list’ of candidates. To change Lebanon you should vote for this list and choose your preferred candidate based on their plans and manifesto - which are featured on Sawti and will be elaborated further closer to election time.
Lebanon is made up of several electoral regions and everyone with a Lebanese National ID card has their electoral region written on the back under ‘القضاء’.
Electoral regions are composed of villages, towns and major cities. Each region is assigned a certain number of seats in Parliament with pre-set quotas for every religious sect.
Since 2005, before every election, parliament has altered the electoral law - they combine or divide different electoral regions according to sectarian intentions and change the voting system, always to their own benefit to stay in power.
Sawti is campaigning to push for the following fair electoral reforms. Join the Sawti team to help us in our lobbying efforts.
-Forming an independent elections council to manage and oversee the elections.
- Cancelling the current threshold (the number of votes each list needs to get a seat in an electoral region) and setting it as 5% in all electoral regions. The current threshold is not consistent across all electoral regions and is very high compared to other countries.
- Lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
- Including a 2nd choice in the voting - so that if your preferential candidate doesn’t make it (because of the religious quota) then your vote does not go to waste.
- Making the preferential vote on the level of the major electoral region and not on small regions within the main region.
For people in Lebanon in particular:
- To have the ability to vote for your original home town lists, but in any polling station around Lebanon - if you cannot make the trip back to your original home town.
- Establishing mega-centers in regions across Lebanon where people can cast their vote at. To allow for a more transparent voting process.
For diaspora in particular:
- To abolish the recent diaspora 6-seats law
- To have mega-centers in large countries abroad, to prevent overcrowding at embassies and increase accessibility.
- To extend time between lists of candidates being announced and expats voting - last time it was within 2 weeks, not enough time to make an informed decision.
Even though Lebanese expats voted from abroad last election (2018) for all 128 seats of parliament, a crucial law was added which says that next time (2022 elections) expats will only be allowed to vote for 6 new ‘diaspora seats’ - silencing the voices of the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who emigrated due to war or lack of economic opportunities in Lebanon.
Given Lebanon’s exceptional circumstances and relationship between its expat and home communities, the diaspora have the right to demand back their voice and vote.
