Type of government in Lebanon

LEBANESE GOVERNMENT

Type of government

The Lebanese government is set up within the framework of a parliamentary democratic system . Therefore , the system relies on representation of the people by members within the parliament . In this system , there exists both a president and a prime minister , making it in theory closer to a parliamentary republic . Still , though democracy lies theoretically at the heart of the Lebanese government , the system remains largely sectarian (Aruri , 2001 Harb , 2006 Knio , 2005 . Within this framework is a unique method of allocating parliamentary seats that is

known as confessionalism . Confessionalism is a system of direct representation that relies on the proportionate allocation of power to members of parliament in a way that mirrors the demographical division of the citizens into different religious or ethnic communities (2001 2005 2006 . Its characteristics are based on those of consociationalism , which include the following elements

The method of proportionally allocating parliamentary seats (as mentioned earlier ) based on the religious and ethnic demographics of the country

The principle that each of these ethnic or religious communities has , to a certain extent , political freedom to direct itself

The coalition of these communities regarding policies that affect the entire population

The power of veto given to each community represented in parliament , so that any decisions that each finds threatening can be prevented (Harb 2006

The French control of Lebanon ended in 1943 , and since that time the country has inherited the posts of its 1943 leaders . This came about through The National Pact , via which The Maronite Christian President Bishara al-Khouri and Prime Minister Riyadh al-Solh , a Sunni Muslim agreed that the country 's leadership should in the future be represented by persons holding faiths similar to theirs (Zisser , 2000 . It has therefore been established that the President should always be a Maronite Christian , the Prime Minister a Sunni (Muslim ) and the Parliamentary Speaker a Shi 'ite (Muslim . The other represented religions in Lebanon are also guaranteed certain positions within government (Harb , 2006 . Within parliament (via the 1943 Pact , seats were to be allocated in a ratio of 6 :5 favoring the Christians . However since the 1989 Taif Agreement , this ratio has been adjusted so that Muslims and Christians gain an equal level of representation in the Lebanese Parliament (Harb , 2006 Zisser , 2000

The governmental system allows the 64 parliamentary seats given to Christians to be further broken down . It guarantees 34 to the Maronites 14 to the Greek Orthodox , 8 to the Catholics , 6 to the Armenians , one to Protestants and another to all other Christian minorities . The Muslims 64 seats are allocated so that the Shi 'ites and the Sunnis each gain 27 seats . Eight are guaranteed to the Druze and two are held for the Alawites (Zisser , 2000 . Once the parliament has been constituted , the members elect the president , who in turn appoints the prime minister and his deputy

The executive branch of the government

In Lebanon , the executive branch of the government is the Council of Ministers (Lebanese Constitution...