Introduction
Lebanon is a unitary parliamentary democracy whose constitution was enacted in 1926. The constitution provides for a unicameral parliament known as the National Assembly, which consists of members elected for a four-year term by direct suffrage. The electoral system is governed by the 2008 Electoral Act and the 2008 Doha agreement. Lebanon is divided into 26 electoral districts, which differ slightly from the 26 kaza. Candidates who receive the largest number of votes are elected as deputies.
Under Article 24 of the Constitution, "the distribution of seats shall be according to the following principles: equal representation between Christians and Muslims. Proportional representation among the confessional groups within each of the two religious communities. Proportional representation among geographic regions". All parliamentary seats are divided equally between Christians and Muslims[1].
The president of the Republic is elected by the parliament for a five-year term. The vote is a secret ballot and requires a majority of two thirds of the parliament. The president appoints the prime minister after consulting the parliament, which binds the president in his or her choice. The Council of Ministers is then selected by the prime minister in consultation with the president and the members of the National Assembly[2].
Lebanon is a highly centralised country, in which the administrative regions have no power and the municipalities have only limited power and funds in real terms. The municipal unions struggle to control their budget deficits. In 2011, the Minister of Interior put forward measures for a municipal finance reform.
The Government recognises the need for electoral reform, for which there is broad public support. There are currently two major reform projects; however, given the fragility of Lebanese society, it is unlikely that these projects will be carried out within the next three parliamentary mandates (i.e. 12 years).
Lebanon has four administrative levels: the central government, the governorates, the kaza and the municipalities. The six governorates are: Beirut, Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, Beqaa, South Lebanon and Nabatieh. Each region is divided into districts (kaza), with the exception of Beirut. In total there are 26 kaza which are distributed as follows: one in Beirut, six in Mount Lebanon, seven in North Lebanon, five in Beqaa, three in South Lebanon and four in Nabatieh. The governorates and kaza act as administrative subdivisions and have autonomy.
The local level comprises 945 municipalities, which are the only authorities with financial and administrative autonomy, as defined by Article 1 of Decree-law No 118 on municipalities of 1977[3].
Article 47 of this decree-law provides that "[e]ach work of public character or interest, in the municipal area, falls within the scope of the Municipal Council's competence"[4]. Furthermore, the Council is in charge of the municipality's annual budget, setting the rates of local taxes, and managing and building all public areas such as parks, schools and shops[5].
In accordance with Decree-law No 118 of 1977, the Municipal Council is the authority with decision-making power at municipal level. The size of the council is proportional to the size of the municipality, varying between 9 and 24 members, elected for a six-year term by universal direct suffrage by all citizens of the municipality, on the principle that the candidate with the most votes wins the election (in the event of a tie, the oldest candidate prevails)[6].
However, there is a disparity between the powers conferred on municipalities by law and those that they exercise in practice. The services provided by municipalities are in practice limited to the provision of local services such as street cleaning, road tarmacking, public lighting, street signs, wastewater treatment and water drainage[7]. Most development projects are carried out not by the municipalities but by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities or even the Council for Development and Reconstruction, which use the resources from the Independent Municipal Fund or other grants and loans obtained from central government agencies or ministries.
Moreover, many areas within the competence of the municipalities are managed by different ministries, including health, education, public works, social affairs, energy resources and water. In these areas, the ministry generally coordinates the specific projects together with the municipality, though the ministry remains responsible for their implementation. The municipalities' power is also limited to their own territory[8].
The financing of the municipalities is complex and subject to rigorous control by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and other governmental bodies[9]. As the central government ministries are in charge of most municipality development projects, the funds allocated to municipalities by the International Monetary Fund, or other loans and grants, are often used by the ministries and not by the municipalities themselves. Furthermore, the taxes collected by the public agencies are one of the municipalities' main sources of revenue. However, only a small proportion of these taxes goes to the municipalities, while the rest is retained by government agencies such as the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Lebanese Ministry for Energy and Water[10].
The governorates, regions and kaza act as administrative subdivisions of the State and have no independent authority.
In November 2014, a law extended the parliament's mandate to 20 June 2017[11] and parliamentary elections were postponed for security reasons, in view of the fighting in neighbouring Syria.
Central level
The Lebanese central government controls most aspects of the planning and monitoring of local authorities. As previously mentioned, in legal terms, the municipalities are autonomous in managing their territory under Decree-law No 118 of 1977on municipalities. However, the government exercises both administrative and financial control over the municipalities through various ministries and bodies. For example, the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities is responsible for planning and drawing up the municipalities' budgets and expenditure, as well as for providing technical and financial assistance to municipalities where necessary. Development projects are usually carried out by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and employment-related decisions in the municipalities are controlled by the Civil Service Council. Furthermore, many projects within the remit of the municipalities are managed by different central ministries, in areas such as health, education, public works, social affairs, energy, water, agriculture and the environment. In these areas, the ministry generally coordinates the specific projects together with the municipality, however the ministry remains responsible for their implementation[12]. Finance is also a complex issue, since Decree No 1917 of 1979 stipulates that 75% of government revenue collected from municipal taxes and placed in an independent municipal fund is supposed to be allocated to municipal councils and 25% to the federations of municipalities. In reality, 75% is allocated to development projects implemented by bodies such as the Council for Development and Reconstruction, while 25% is allocated to municipalities and federations of municipalities. In addition, the Office of Auditors is the auditing authority for the large municipalities and the central government may appoint a general supervisor to act as auditor for the municipalities[13].
Regional level
Lebanon consists of regions headed by a governor (mohafez). The governor's functions are mainly administrative and include implementing at local level policies developed by the central government, as well as coordinating central government offices and regional officials. The governor represents all ministries with the exception of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence. According to Articles 4 to 26 of Decree No 116/1959, the governor is tasked with implementing laws and regulations; implementing central government policy directives; informing the government about the general political situation in the region; managing all questions relating to the Staff Regulations; monitoring the offices of the region's central administration and civil servants; guaranteeing public security, individual freedom and private property and, where necessary, coordinating events in cooperation with internal security forces under his or her command[14].
With the exception of Beirut, the regional units are subdivided into 26 smaller units called kaza. Like the regions, a kaza is an administrative subdivision which has no legal or financial autonomy. Of the 26 kaza, five are directly administered by the regions as these are regional capitals. The remaining kaza are administered by a prefect (qaemakam). The prefect carries out constituency duties comparable to those of regional governors, except that he or she does not represent the various central government ministries. Under Articles 27 to 48 of Decree No 116/1959, the prefect is responsible for supervising the general situation in the kaza and for informing the government about developments; administering the regional offices of the various ministries in the kaza and monitoring and supervising employees; applying regulations; maintaining public order and public security; supervising the agricultural sector; granting hunting and building permits; enforcing sanitation measures; and appointing certain junior staff members[15].
Local level
There is no one single federation of all Lebanese municipalities; however, 660 municipalities have together set up 48 federations, bringing together different municipalities aiming to promote development and increase revenue in their respective regions[16].
The municipalities have six sources of taxes: municipal taxes and other taxes collected directly by the municipality, municipal taxes and taxes collected by public bodies on behalf of municipalities, loans and aid, interest on municipal property, fines, and grants and bequests. For taxes collected by public bodies, many municipalities have only been receiving part of the taxes coming from the Ministry of Telecommunications and Electricité du Liban and no surtax collected by the Ministry of Energy and Water. Municipalities also have no means of knowing the amount of funds they will receive from the public bodies mentioned above and have no way of forcing the public authorities to pay them what they are due. The unpredictability of transfers hampers proper budgetary planning by local authorities[17]. According to a survey carried out by a Lebanese centre for political studies and surveys, 72% of municipalities rely on taxes collected and allocated by the central government and only 26% rely on taxes they collect directly[18]. 88% of municipalities have stated that increasing their revenue is a priority[19].
[1] See the Lebanese Constitution, available at the following address: http://www.conseilconstitutionnelliban.com/sub-fr.aspx?id=169 (FR) and http://www.conseilconstitutionnelliban.com/pdf/Lebanese%20constitution.pdf (EN). See also: International Foundation for Electoral Systems, The Lebanese Electoral System, available at: http://www.ifes.org/Content/Publications/Papers/2009/~/media/Files/Publications/SpeechCommentary/2009/1382/IFES_Lebanon_ESB_Paper030209.pdf (EN).
[2] Ibid.
[3] ‘Municipal Finance Studies Program: Final Strategic Framework’, p. 15.
[4] Decree-law on municipalities No 118 of 1977, available at the following address : http://www.moim.gov.lb/ui/moim/PDF/LoiMunicipalites_versionFr.pdf (FR).
[5] Ibid, p. 17.
[6] Decree-law on municipalities No 118 of 1977, available at the following address : http://www.moim.gov.lb/ui/moim/PDF/LoiMunicipalites_versionFr.pdf (FR).
[7] Atallah, S., ‘How well is Lebanon fiscally decentralized?’, Report prepared and presented to the World Bank sponsored Mediterranean Development Forum IV 6, 2002, available at the following address: http://www.passia.org/goodgov/resources/Lebanon-decentralized.pdf
[8] ‘Municipal Finance Studies Program: Final Strategic Framework’, p. 17.
[9] Atallah, S., ‘How well is Lebanon fiscally decentralized?’, Report prepared and presented to the World Bank sponsored Mediterranean Development Forum IV 2002, 1, available at the following address: http://www.passia.org/goodgov/resources/Lebanon-decentralized.pdf
[10] Ibid., 12.
[11] http://www.elections.gov.lb/news/قانون-التمديد-للمجلس-النيابي-كما-صدر-اليوم-في-الجر.aspx
[12] Atallah, S., ‘How well is Lebanon fiscally decentralized?’, Report prepared and presented to the World Bank sponsored Mediterranean Development Forum IV 2002, pp. 1-26, available at the following address: http://www.passia.org/goodgov/resources/Lebanon-decentralized.pdf p. 7.
[13] Ibid., p. 21.
[14] "Municipal Finance Studies Program: Final Strategic Framework", p. 15.
[15] Ibid., 16.
[16] Atallah, S., ‘Decentralization in Lebanon’, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (2002), available at the following address: http://www.lcps-lebanon.org/featuredArticle.php?id=6
(EN).
[17] Atallah, S. ‘How well is Lebanon fiscally decentralized?’, Note preparée et présentée au World Bank sponsored Mediterranean Development Forum IV (2002), pp. 1-26, available at the following address: http://www.passia.org/goodgov/resources/Lebanon-decentralized.pdf (EN), p. 12.
[18] For more details, see the point entitled "National level" in this section.
[19] Atallah, S., ‘How well is Lebanon fiscally decentralized?’, Report prepared and presented to the World Bank sponsored Mediterranean Development Forum IV (2002), pp. 1-26, available at the following address: http://www.passia.org/goodgov/resources/Lebanon-decentralized.pdf (EN), p. 11.
