IFES and the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) hosted a panel discussion of recent efforts to reform Lebanon’s tense and historically divisive electoral system. The event was moderated by Mona Yacoubian, special advisor to USIP’s Muslim World Initiative.
The panel featured Lebanese Minister of Interior and Municipalities Ziyad Baroud, who outlined the sectarian tensions and political conflicts that frequently destabilize Lebanon’s government and derail reform efforts. He highlighted numerous changes he would like to see in his country’s electoral system, including a switch to proportional representation to protect minority political interests in parliament and quotas to ensure better representation of women. “We have a country that needs to be handled with care,” he said. “I don’t believe in miracles when it comes to politics, but I believe in the Lebanese people.”
Baroud was joined by Tamara Wittes, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Richard Chambers, IFES’s Chief of Party in Lebanon. Wittes praised the management of Lebanon’s 2009 parliamentary elections and cited evidence of stronger civil society, including advocacy by groups linked to the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative.
Chambers echoed Baroud’s assessment of the interest-driven political environment facing electoral reforms. Despite the challenges, he said, Lebanon has time to work through the slow process of reform and has set a positive precedent with measures introduced during the 2009 elections. He also noted that it is Lebanese civil society, rather than the international community, that is driving recent reform efforts.
Over the past fifteen months, Lebanon has held two critical elections and many view electoral and other political reforms as critical to managing Lebanon’s complex sectarian diversity.
In this event, co-sponsored with the U.S. Institute of Peace, Lebanese Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud will discuss the pursuit of political reform in Lebanon from his unique vantage point as a former civil society activist who was subsequently appointed as Interior Minister. Tamara Wittes, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern affairs, will offer a U.S. policy perspective on the opportunities and challenges of democracy promotion in Lebanon, placing Lebanon in a broader regional context of U.S. democracy promotion. Richard Chambers, Chief of Party in Lebanon for IFES, will provide the perspective of an on-the-ground democracy promotion organization working toward long term electoral reform and strengthened election administration.
Speakers
H.E. Ziyad Baroud
Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Republic of Lebanon
Richard Chambers
Chief of Party, Lebanon
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Tara Cofman Wittes
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Moderator
Mona Yacoubian
Director of the Lebanon Working Group
U.S. Institute of Peace
Click here to RSVP.
Please contact Leslie Thompson at 202-429-3896 or lthompson@usip.org with any general questions about this event.