Maronite Bishops in Lebanon Oppose New Electoral Law as a Threat to Christian-Muslim Relations

The Maronite Bishops Council of Lebanon (MBCL) has made known their great objections against the electoral law 2000, which was issued during the Syrian dominance in Lebanon. The MBCL has asked for its revision to take place before the upcoming election at the end of May.

The Council believes that the electoral law is unfair and unjust, since they allege it endangers the fragile co-existence betweem Muslims and Christians.

In a Bishops' statement it says the law doesn't "allow Christians to properly elect their representatives."

There are approximately 40% Christians among the Lebanese population and according to the confessional system, Christian are guaranteed 64 of the 128 seats in Parliament.

The Electoral law 2000 was constructed to create a pro-Syrian government during the time of Syrian dominance, and will allow Christians to elect just 15 out of 64 of their MPs. Almost 50 MPs will be elected by Muslims and according to the Bishops' statement "Christian MPs who are elected by Muslim blocs cannot represent Christian voters, but rather the Muslim leaders on whose lists they were elected; and they are forced to adopt their stands, not those of their Christian voters in the large district."

This contradicts the spirit of the Taif Accord that has become the Lebanese Constitution. The problematic situation occurred since the current law is based on large electoral districts. As the time of the election approaches, the tension is continuing to grow and strong words are being used.

The Church proposes for the new law to be based on smaller districts, so the Parliament will reflect more fairly the composition of the population and will of voters. These requests of a revision of the electoral law by the Council may postpone the date of the election but the United States, European Union and United Nations, which pressured Syria to leave Lebanon, have insisted that the election be held on time.

"Insistence on holding legislative elections under this unfair law will have dire consequences, which we don't want and don't wish for," said a church statement

Saadeddine Hariri, the son of assassinated former Premier Rafik Hariri, who is standing for a seat in Parliament for the first time, met the Beirut Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoudi and Beirut's Maronite Bishop Bolus Matar on Wednesday.

After the meeting he expressed one of the first tasks of the newly elected parliament would be: "Parliament will have a duty of passing a new electoral law."

The election, with a scheduled beginning on 29th May 2005, will be held in four stages and will be the first since the Syrian military withdrawal. The Maronite statement urged for "all Christian and Muslim officials to put national interest ahead of all else, adhering to coexistence that brings together Muslims and Christians."