there is no poliical debate in lebanon since 40 years. the is no exchange of opinions or political positions ..there is a sort of one way communication top - down..
i will give you an example.
in the shia community there is the mahdale rule since 30 years.. what sort of political debate is there on this community ? all shia know thay berri is a thief and all of them silent.. if any voice raise above the line the iron fist of ze3ran and thugs id ready to beat the hell up of that voice ..that what later became as a praxis of " Sa7sou7 " and the worst of it this culture became a normal thing and acceptable by most of lebanese ..
MOU came to support this handicap of democracy and worsen the situation.. since their concern is only in their narrow sectarian political agenda and they find in LF thrit only rival..
Do you support a one district, nonsectarian electoral law based on proportionality?
If yes, I respect your above criticism.
Do you know why? Because with aforementioned electoral law, a Shia would be allowed to vote from anywhere within Lebanon and for any candidate. This would be the real test of democracy and free choice. It means people have their democratic rights restored and all Lebanese votes are equal.
But you cant have an electoral law based on sectarian divisions and want to criticize Berri or Jumblatt or whoever for not tolerating competition in his areas. It makes no sense.
To Berri and his likes, it is a survival of the fittest race. So do the needed and break the grip of the big blocs on the individual voter and give independents the freedom to contest and equally get votes from anywhere in Lebanon through a fair, democratic and modern electoral law.
I dont really know what sort of democracy we are practicing when someone living in Beirut has to travel all the way to Akkar or Bint Jbeil to cast a ballot. It makes no sense. Our system is not democratic. Our elections are not democratic either thanks to the electoral law. So you cant really use democratic principles to criticize one side for playing by the undemocratic rules. They all behave the same way. This is the reason why our elections are not contested and there is no competition. The.big blocs all know the results before the votes are cast. And if you dont vote, it wont affect them either. Dissenting vote is hammered. It is nonsense and just a show of popularity without opposition and nothing else.
Any reform starts with a democratic, representative, fair, equal and modern electoral law. Otherwise, we would be where we are for a long time to come. And speaking about the electoral law for the parliamentary elections, we also need to vote for the president directly. Break the grip of the dictators in parliament. They have too much power to be opposed. The system makes them too powerful and relevant. Every four years, a section of Lebanese hand them over the country and the future the entire population for another four years. And the same old and rotten faces keep winning. The reason you see them in parliament for decades. Lebanese really have a choice between making a country for all by breaking sectarian chains, or remaining where we are as sectarian entities competing on how to outdo one another. The choice is for every Lebanese.
