Is Lebanon’s Constitution the Biggest Barrier to Political Reform?
By Jacob Coffelt
Lebanon is currently in the midst of it’s biggest economic crisis in decades, the value of the Lebanese Pound remains at 1,500 versus the Dollar on the FOREX market but a lack of foreign currency in the country has caused domestic exchange rates to climb up to 6,000 Pounds per Dollar on the black market. The Central Bank has tried to bring the domestic exchange rates under control by setting the maximum rate at 3,900 Pounds per Dollar, unfortunately this hasn’t prevented the growth of the black market which ultimately sets the value based on supply and demand.
With the economic situation deteriorating and public discontent growing, the demand for real political reform is reaching a boiling point as people are desperate to hold the political elite accountable for the government’s failures. In October of 2019, protests erupted in Lebanon over the growing economic crisis which shut down much of the country as people from across the social spectrum united together in order to force the government to listen to their demands. These demands ranged from economic reforms to a complete restructuring of the Lebanese government.
These protests led to the resignation of the Prime Minister Saad Hariri in October, and the appointment of Hassan Diab in an effort to de-escalate the ongoing Civil unrest. Electing Diab was essentially a last ditch effort made by the parliament in order to show that they were addressing the demands of the protestors as his lack of affiliation to any political party or Sectarian group was supposed to be seen as a breath of fresh air to the corrupt ruling elite.
Unfortunately for Hassan Diab, despite the implementation of a new budget which reduced government spending by $700 million Dollars, as of March 2020 Lebanon announced they would be defaulting on its debt payments for the first time in history.
Corruption, dysfunction, and bureaucracy have plagued the government since the end of the Civil War in 1989. Unfortunately, it seems that the possibility for real political reform is unlikely simply due to the way the constitution distributes power among the various executive and parliamentary branches of government.
Currently, the Lebanese government is structured in a way which guarantees certain religious sect’s a specific amount of power in order to keep them from competing with each other and resorting to violence in order to legitimize themselves. This system is known as Confessionalism and was originally established in the 1926 constitution and has formed the basis of Lebanese political representation ever since.
Although Confessionalism in Lebanon has evolved since its initial inception in order to better represent the demographic makeup of the country, it hasn’t been able to adapt to the social and economic changes which have continued to manifest themselves over time.
The division of political power along sectarian lines has created an unending stalemate which has left the government unable to operate efficiently and solve even the most basic of domestic problems. Every little issue which is brought before the government is turned into a political battle pitting both sides against each other. For almost a decade Lebanon hasn’t even been able to properly dispose of it’s garbage due to ongoing debates over who should get the contracts for building new landfills.
Confessionalism has also contributed to an atmosphere of political stagnation in which it is almost impossible for new parties or opinions to achieve any significant representation in Parliament. This means that people have very little say in how their government is run so long as the current power structure is based on religious affiliation as opposed to actual public support. And since it is basically impossible to vote any party completely out of office, the politicians regularly engage in very blatant corrupt activities without fear of legal repercussion.
And while independent politicians such as Prime Minister Hassan Diab may want to fight corruption and restructure the economy, ultimately he is accountable to the Parliament and the President who have the ability to force his resignation and dismiss his Council of Ministers. And considering the fact that implementing significant anti-corruption reform would affect those who put him into office, he is forced to tread carefully.
Corruption also plays a major role in elections as allegations of “vote-buying” have been widespread among most political parties. The different sects regularly use incentives for their supporters such as healthcare privileges and increased employment opportunities in exchange for votes. This has created an atmosphere of dependency on individual sects for basic social services as opposed to the government, forcing people to continue voting for corrupt political parties.
In this environment of institutionalized corruption, there is little chance for real political reform. The only real way to fix the system would be to completely restructure the Lebanese government and this can only be done by amending the constitution to specifically abolish sectarian quotas. However, in order to amend the constitution there would have to be a majority vote by the Parliament and Council of Ministers. Unfortunately, these institutions have the most to lose by abolishing sectarian quotas, thus making it highly unlikely that they are going to do so anytime soon.
