Power struggle in Beirut: Parliament debates governor’s role and sectarian balance

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Lebanon’s Parliament is set to hold a session Thursday morning with several draft laws on the agenda, most notably proposals concerning the Beirut municipality.

At the heart of the proposals is the issue of achieving equal representation between Christians and Muslims in the municipal council.

One of the key points of contention is that the proposed sectarian parity would be tied to reducing the executive powers of the governor of Beirut. A specific clause in one of the proposals reflects this connection.

MP Waddah Sadek clearly expressed this trade-off between achieving parity and limiting the governor’s authority.

One proposed solution to ensure sectarian parity in the outcome of Beirut’s municipal elections is the adoption of closed electoral lists. Under this system, voters would cast their ballot for an entire list of candidates without the ability to remove or add individual names.

Outside the halls of Parliament, the Union of Beirut Families Associations objected to this approach, arguing that closed lists would eliminate the possibility of forming incomplete lists and represent a blow to democracy.

The union also called for restoring the governor’s role in Beirut to its previous status as a supervisory, not executive, position.

Beirut MPs Imad Al-Hout and Nabil Badr echoed similar concerns. They argued that closed lists contradict the essence of democratic governance, limit the representation of popular will, and reduce the election process to a mere formality that rubber-stamps pre-arranged deals.

The Council of Muftis also commented on the proposed amendments to Beirut’s municipal election laws.