A Rotten Electoral System

A presentation of any idea or model in any field will fall apart if it is not internally consistent. Although no one should take seriously models that suffer from very obvious logical flaws in their construction yet both of the major political factions in Lebanon appear to be robust despite the fact that each of them is built on very shaky logical foundations.
The upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections are nothing else but a sham. The traditional politicians and power brokers have gamed the system to such an extent that even the EU and the Carter center have sent delegations to watch the elections and lend its results credibility. The recent leaked recording of the private discussions at Walid Jumblatts residence reveal a sorry state of affairs where Mr. Jumblatt describes the process of forming lists of candidates in some regions as if he was a Godfather running the operations of the family or syndicate. Yes, at some moments he was reflective but in the style of a sixteenth century feudal lord. Although the press is not privy to the pronouncements of the other feudal lords I am certain that the language of Nabih Berri, Hassan Nasrallah or Saad Hariri was much different. The elections in most of Lebanon are not elections at all and it is time for people of character and principle to say that the emperor has no clothes.
But even if one is to cast a blind eye on the utter lack of choice in most districts we will still be faced with the claim and counter claim of who is really democratic. The March 14 group has made it very clear that they will not give the opposition veto power again because that is not how the democratic game is played and they are right. But their case falls apart when one takes into consideration the fact that they are the strongest advocates of what they call the power sharing a la Taif agreement. That in essence is an understanding to give the Christian community in Lebanon half the parliamentary seats although it accounts at best for 35-40% of the vote and its share is continuously shrinking for demographic and political reasons; lower fertility rate and more immigration. But isn’t offering a block that amounts to 35-40% of the vote a disproportionate representation of 50% of the seats in the national assembly a form of veto power? Of course it is. Then what is the rationale of March 14 when it opposes the giving of the veto power to some but offers it willingly to others? The only explanation is self expediency and logic and principle be damned.
The inconsistency of the opposition is even more glaring. Hezbollah is willing to play the elections game in order to legitimize its essentially authoritarian and religious principles. They are not even willing to pay allegiance to the country in which they are expanding their fiefdom and control through the use of illegal weapons provide to them by a foreign power. They do not need to win any elections because they are already shaping the policies at the point of illegal guns. The elections for them is not the result of a belief in democratic principles which they oppose but it is a means to legitimizing their power grab for their foreign masters.
As the saying goes “Let there be pox on both of their houses”. This charade will not end well. It never does. Lebanon can redeem itself only if it is to adopt a modern electoral system that is non sectarian and that is not subject to the control of its political mafia. Lebanon needs to have elections of citizens by citizens without any regard to their religious practices because our current system is rotten to the core.