Political Parties are diverse, free, and regulated by a legal framework that guarantees ethics and financial transparency

Secure fair representation away from sectarian affiliations to all Lebanese citizens

Transparent, Responsive,  Accountable & Effective Institutions

1.A political party is an organized group of people who have the same ideology or set of principles, or who otherwise have the same political positions, and who field candidates for elections in order to get them elected and thereby implement the party's agenda

2.Political parties can be funded by contributions from: (1) party members and other individuals; (2) organizations that share their political ideas (e.g. trade union affiliation fees) or that could benefit from their activities (e.g. corporate donations); (3) governmental or public funding

1.Number of political parties

2.Number of non sectarian political parties

3.Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoD): Free Political Parties 

1.Many of the significant political parties in Lebanon were founded as militias during the civil war

2.Lebanese parties depend on the sectarian, family loyalty, and clientelist structures that help their members get elected

3.With a few exceptions, Lebanese parties are not based on ideological orientations; rather they build their platform on the basis of identity politics, mainly along religious lines (“confessionalism”)

4.Lebanese parties are organized by regions, where their confessional bases are located

5.Many political parties have branches that run economic, media, social, cultural, and philanthropic activities that they use to promote the interests of the party

6.Many political party leaders own some of the largest businesses of the country, and exploit their political positions for private gain

7.Financial and media resources are disproportionately in the hands of the well-established dominant parties

8.With the persistence of a the feudal culture, many heads of party positions are traditionally inherited

9.Political parties primarily spend money on their own party financing, but also on social development in their communities and vote buying in times of election

10.While campaigning, parties deploy their makanat (machines), which are comprised of various mafatih (keys), operating in specific neighborhoods. A muftah (singular for mafatih) is typically a well-connected member of a political party in charge of swaying voters. A muftah gets in touch with families in the neighborhood and either reminds them of the services they received (such as a relative obtaining a government job) or distributes payments or services to supporters while noting down the names of defectors or opponents. The party’s makana is the overarching apparatus that counts voters, draws up lists, maps neighborhoods, and oversees this process
“The makana divides the city into neighborhoods and they know who each person is going to vote for. Each person gets a service in exchange. They divide people into loyalists and defectors. The ones who won’t vote for them will either be offered a service [to lure them into voting for them], or scared and intimidated”

1.Governance in Lebanon is affected by regional dynamics; factions in Lebanon are primarily concerned with their security and political survival, and this exposes them to the influence of external forces

2.Parties are unwilling to reveal their funding sources, especially those who receive significant international funding

3.The parties’ differentiation being along confessional instead of ideological or principles lines renders the political context polarized because differences between parties are not about policies, but about confessional identities, which are harder to reconcile

4.While there are numerous political parties, they are less important than in other democracies, as representatives are chosen based on their local interest and confessional group

5.Lack of adherence by parties to democratic principles and integrity trickles down to the political system at large

6.With 1.5 million Lebanese citizens living below the poverty line, in addition to inefficient public services, reliance on parties is common

7.The scarcity of resources – financial and human – makes challenging the hegemony of sectarian political groups difficult, who have long-established networks of their makanat as well as financial resources

1.Political parties in Lebanon are currently governed by the 1909 Ottoman Law of Associations. As in the case of all associations, they enjoy the right to autonomously manage and administer their finances, open bank accounts, and accept funding and gifts

• Parties are obliged to keep three sets of files

1.On their membership

2.On the decisions of their executive committee or board and the activities of their association

3.On their finances and expenditures, which should be made available to the authorities whenever requested

• An additional updated file shall be kept, which includes any change to the party bylaws or the party organization
• Political parties, like all associations, must submit annual copies of these files to the Ministry of Interior

2.There are no limitations on donations or any formal rules that govern party funding

3.Expenditures are not monitored by the government

Policy Action

1.Draft a clear legal framework for the rules and regulations governing political parties (a political party law)

2.Cancel any prior governmental control over the formation of political parties

3.Review the financing mechanisms of political parties to impose transparency and limit external influence

4.Implement anti-corruption mechanisms within the by-laws of Lebanese political parties

5.Criminalize all forms of clientelism

6.Reduce people’s material dependencies on elites for access to basic goods, services and jobs

• Create solidarity networks at the grassroots level that can operate as alternatives to the traditional services distributed by sectarian parties