Political intervention of the new generation - Electoral Law in the profit of Lebanon’s youths, and bringing them into Lebanese policy-making
Opinion analysis by Reine Abou Antoun, Featured Writer
August 21st, 2021
Dynamic, determined, educated, ambitious, and enthusiastic about building a country that embraces their aspirations, Lebanese youths are Lebanon’s invaluable human resource. Since the 17th October protests in Lebanon, young women and men have stood out as the most energetic protesters against the political system that many of them view as rigged against their generation.
As a result, many scenarios of change started to come out, with the predictable elections of 2022 being the first example. Lebanese Electoral laws have been mainly motivated by sectarian quotas that were intended to ensure a balance among diverse religious groups while excluding every other aspect of a state, namely basic human rights, which of the latest was the Lebanese Electoral Law 2017. The 128 parliamentary members shall be elected on the basis of the proportional system, which technically depends on a very high percentage of votes for a list (ex. 20% Saida/Jezzine) compared to all adopted proportional systems in the world (2%, 5% or 10%) in order to gain a seat in the parliament. Moreover, a preferential vote for the candidates will be determined by the number of overall preferential votes cast in their administrative district, although if they registered a high percentage of votes, many could be replaced by others with a lower percentage for reasons of seats.
Therefore, the integration of developing or new political parties may actually be insignificant or almost impossible inside the parliament, but such minorities could be the shortest road for the new generation to deliver its voice to the executive authorities.
A new energy is left out of infrastructure
The fact that young deputies are excluded from the parliament has done more harm than good. As the Inter-Parliamentary Union reported just after Lebanon’s 2018 elections, of 128 members of parliament (MPs), only 15 were under the age of 45. Yet three of the new MPs under the age of 40 were the sons of party leaders and heirs of their families’ sectarian patronage structures. Besides the absence of a legislative practice – the essential role of the parliamentary power considering that the only Youth_Policy_in_Lebanon_was endorsed on 3 April 2012 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in partnership with the UN. Moreover, the 2021 Youth Leadership Programme by UNDP has opened hundreds of opportunities, including leadership workshops and political participation activities, to Lebanon’s young women and men. However, reaching a collaboration across generations, in other words, an application of the most crucial characteristic of democracy in Lebanon, remains difficult as polarization appears to have become the most intractable challenges of Lebanese youths. It does not help that more than 44% of Lebanese youths are jobless, bringing down their political participation, which was further decreased by the adoption of the highest voting age (21) and candidature age (25) ages in the world, as a recent study by the NDI and partner organizations has found.
Several partnerships were lately organized between UNICEF and Lebanese officials (MOYS, civil movements, and NGOs) with the target empowering youths civically engagement, but could that be sufficiently effective on the national level? In Lebanon, which is a parliamentary democratic republic, all citizens shall be equally represented in the parliament by active legislations for rights and services.
Meanwhile, restoring confidence and the legitimacy of the state in the eyes of people is becoming a surreal idea in the presence of an unequal Electoral Law and inadequate governance. Implementing the Access to Information Law (ATI) could be a notable initiative that could respond compatibly to the e-generation services, along the lines of Lebanon’s Digital-Transformation-Strategy adopted by the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) in 2018, and a respectful act towards the concept of modernization that maintains the connections between people from different backgrounds. Furthermore, the decentralization Draft Law 2014, which may naturally strengthen local powers in order to provide services that matches the financial, intellectual, and social abilities of a group of humans, so that a civic education accompanied by political literacy could be shared and comprehended by removing barriers upheld by the current stakeholders. Since a lack of consideration from legislative authorities is occurring, such urgent democratic behaviors are highly recommended to preserve Lebanon’s human resources.
Hence, it is an infrastructure composed of a transitional phase of powers, legislative engines, and solid intergenerational networks of communication that will boost our political engagement advocacy. They would also foster our decision-making skills, and most importantly, our vital rights, that we as Lebanese youths, are dramatically missing.
A long way to go with little steps
Consequently, a narrative of expressing issues and rights in order to reach a healthy lifestyle across the community, is actually a chain of actions requested from the early ages. Basically, between the government and its population, and specifically, between parents and their children (conforming the EU charter of fundamental rights act 24). In this regard, the ureport project established by the UNDP is an innovative integration of adolescents in the political and social life, that should indirectly influence the Lebanese legislators to lower the eligibility age of voting, candidature, as they are initial conditions in elections. By extension, the age of foundation and membership of associations, when in fact, elections in Lebanon could turn totally into a sect-politico concept.
Above all, such positive applications enable youths, in accordance to their age and maturity, to take decisions and manage their issues, instead of increasing gaps of vulnerabilities and running down the development of a society. So that, in case of elections, young Lebanese will be able to handle their relation with the government under a structured leadership.
References:
https://www.idea.int/answer/ans1303571841637474#:~:text=Lebanese%20Electoral%20Law%202017
https://www.mei.edu/publications/decentralization-lebanon-not-neutral
https://fra.europa.eu/en/eu-charter/article/24-rights-child