Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has again ignited controversy in Lebanon. Having already stirred the pot with a proposal to establish a committee on deconfessionalization, Berri is now pushing to lower Lebanon’s voting age from 21 to 18.
The Controversy
Of course, the controversy relates to the proposal’s implications for Lebanon’s delicate sectarian balance. According to media reports, the Ministry of Interior estimates that lowering the voting age to 18 will add another 232,000 voters to the rolls. 174,000 of these prospective voters are Muslim; 58,000 are Christian. Other reports have the total number additional voters at 283,000 people, but list the Muslim-Christian ratio as roughly the same.
The 3:1 Muslim-Christian ratio in the 18-21 age bracket obviously disturbs the Christian establishment and Christian-dominated political parties like the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Lebanese Forces (LF). Politicians like LF executive chairman Samir Geagea and Phalange leader Amin Gemayel have tied voting age reform to the creation of an expatriate right to vote abroad.
Because Christians constitute the majority of Lebanon’s vast diaspora, granting Lebanese expatriates the right to vote in their countries of residence has long been viewed as a counterweight to lowering the voting age. The balance is quite simple: most young resident Lebanese are Muslim; most Lebanese abroad are Christian.
Fairly or not, the Lebanese political class has seemingly reached a consensus that the two reforms must proceed in tandem.
Mechanisms of Change
Article 21 of the Lebanese Constitution grants citizens above the age of 21 the right to vote. As such, any reform will require a constitutional amendment, which may come about under two alternative processes.
First, under Article 76 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic may “propose” an amendment, thereby compelling the cabinet (headed by the Prime Minister) to submit a draft amendment to Parliament.
Second, under Article 77 of the Constitution, any group of ten Members of Parliament, with the approval of two thirds of the Parliament, may “request” the “revision of the Constitution.” Under this process, the cabinet must consent, by a two-thirds vote, to amend the constitution and follow up by submitting a draft law to Parliament within four months.
If the cabinet rejects the Parliament’s request to amend the Constitution, three-fourths of Parliament is required to “insist upon the necessity” of amending the constitution. If the Parliament so insists, the President must either (a) accept the “request,” which would effectively compel the cabinet to submit a draft amendment to Parliament, or (b) ask the cabinet to dissolve the Parliament.
Present Prospects
Reform cannot proceed unless two-thirds of Parliament sign off on it. As matters stand, only Berri’s AMAL movement and a cluster of smaller parties and independents seem ready to push the issue now.
Most parties – including Berri’s main Christian ally, the FPM, which controls a sizable parliamentary bloc – have opted for gradualism and a comprehensive package that includes expatriate voting and (ostensibly) other reforms (balloting, media coverage, campaign finance, transparency). On paper, this looks good. But that is nearly always the case with procrastination and posturing in Lebanon.
The Silent