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REPUBLIC OF LEBANONLAW ON ELECTIONS TO THE CHAMBE
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R OF DEPUTIESCHAPTER ONEThe Electoral System, Number of Deputies andElectoral DistrictsArticle 1
The parliament shall be made up of 128 deputieselected by a majority system for a mandate of four years. The voting shall be made universal, bysecret ballots and on one level.
Article 2
A-
 
The number of parliamentary seats and their distribution among confessions shall be madeaccording to electoral districts and the tableannexed to this law. The nomination of candidatesshall also follow the electoral districts. The annexis an integral part of the present law.B-
 
All voters of a certain electoral district, andfrom different confessions, shall vote for thecandidates of their district.
CHAPTER TWOVoters and CandidatesArticle 3
Every Lebanese individual who has attained thelegal age stipulated in the constitution, whether or not resident on the Lebanese territory, shall beentitled to vote.
Article 4
The following shall be prevented from voting:1.
 
Persons deprived by legal sentence of their civil rights2.
 
Persons convicted to be permanentlydisqualified from public service at any grades or  positions3.
 
Persons disqualified from their grades or  public service temporarily, until the end of thedisqualification period4.
 
Persons convicted of a felony5.
 
Persons convicted of one of the followinggrand offences: burglary, fraud, issuing of uncovered checks, breach of trust,misappropriation of funds, bribery, perjury, rape,intimidation, falsification, forgery, falsetestimony, immoral crimes as stated in the seventhchapter of the penal code, and crimes related tothe planting, production and/or trade in illicitdrugs
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Published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Lebanon on 9 October 2008.
 
6.
 
Persons interdicted by court order until theend of the interdiction period7.
 
Persons declared fraudulently bankrupt or those sentenced to sanctions stated in Articles 689to 698 of the Penal Code8.
 
Persons convicted and sentenced to thesanctions stated in Articles 329 to 334 of the penalcodeThe aforementioned persons may not vote untilafter rehabilitation
Article 5
 Naturalized Lebanese individuals may not vote before ten years after the naturalization decree isissued.
Article 6
 Non-retired military personnel of various ranks, or those considered as such, whether in the army,state security, internal security forces, publicsecurity or customs police may not vote.
Article 7
Every Lebanese who has completed the age of twenty-five years may run for parliamentaryelections.
Article 8
The only persons allowed to run for parliamentarymembership are Lebanese citizens, registered inthe voter rolls, enjoying their civil and politicalrights and literate. Naturalized persons may notrun for elections until ten years after their naturalization.
Article 9
Military personnel of various ranks, whether theyare in the army, the state security, the internalsecurity forces, the public security or the customs police, or those considered as such, may not runfor parliamentary elections; however, they mayrun as candidates if they are retired or if their resignation has been accepted six months beforethe date of elections.
Article 10
1- The following persons may not run ascandidates while they are exercising their jobs andwithin the periods that follow their end of serviceor their resignation date, as follows:a-
 
Judges of all degrees and ranks, whether inthe legal, administrative, financial, religious,confessional or spiritual judiciary, unless theysubmit their resignation and effectively stop the practice of their function pursuant to the legal judiciary law provisions.
 
Republic of LebanonParliamentary Election Law 2008
Unofficial Translation
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 b-
 
Public employees of the first and second rank,unless they present their resignation andeffectively stop the practice of their function sixmonths at least before the expiry of the parliament’s mandate;c-
 
Full-time board chairmen and members,directors general and officers of the publicinstitutions, public utility institutions, mixedeconomy companies (semi-public), and publiccapital companies, unless they present their resignation and effectively stop the practice of their function six months at least before the expiryof the parliament’s mandate;d-
 
Presidents or vice-presidents of municipalcouncils in
Muhafazats
and district centers andmunicipal unions unless they submit their resignation and effectively stop the practice of their function two years at least before the expiryof the parliament’s mandate; and six months atleast before that date for the rest of MunicipalCouncils’ presidents and vice-presidents.2- Regardless of any other reference, a resignation based on the above mentioned reasons shall bedeemed accepted as soon as it is submitted and thework is effectively stopped.3- The faculty, full time staff and contractualmembers of the Lebanese University shall beexempted from the provisions of the presentarticle.
CHAPTER THREESupervising the Elections CampaignArticle 11
A commission, called “The SupervisoryCommission on the Electoral Campaign”, shall becreated (hereinafter referred to as the“Commission”). It shall be entrusted with the practice of functions stated in the present law andis linked to the Minister of Interior andMunicipalities (hereafter called the “Minister”).The Minister supervises its work, and decides theCommission’s premises and attends its meetingswhenever he wishes to. He shall chair the saidmeetings without participating in the voting.
Article 12
The Commission shall be made up of tenmembers as follows:-
 
A presiding judge of the Court of Cassation,honorably discharged and selected from a list of three names nominated by the Higher JudicialCouncil (as President)-
 
A presiding judge from the State Council,honorably discharged and selected from a list of three names nominated by the State Council bureau (as Vice-President)-
 
A presiding judge from the National AuditOffice, honorably discharged and selected from alist of three names nominated by the NationalAudit Office (as member)-
 
A former President of the Bar Association(Barrister), selected from a list of three former Barristers nominated by the board of Beirut Bar Association (as member)-
 
A former President of the Bar Association(Barrister), selected from a list of three former Barristers nominated by the board of Tripoli Bar Association (as member)-
 
Two media and advertising experts selectedfrom 6 names nominated by the National MediaCouncil (as two members)-
 
Three senior experts in election-relatedspecializations (including elections management,funding and advertising).The Commission members shall be appointed by adecision of the Council of Ministers upon thesuggestion of the Minister within a period of twomonths as of the present law issue date.The President of the Commission may delegate anumber of its powers to one or more members.
Article 13
The term of office of the Commission membersshall start as soon as their appointment decree isissued upon the decision by the Council of Ministers, and shall end six months after theuniversal parliamentary elections.In case any member’s position becomes vacant for whatever reason, the Commission shall announcethe vacancy. The President shall notify theMinister, within one week, in order to take theappropriate measures and appoint a substitutemember.The substitute member shall be appointed within15 days as of notification, in the same wayadopted when the original member was appointed,and for the remaining period of the originalmember’s term of office.
Article 14
The Commission shall, within 15 days after itsformation, draw up its bylaws that shouldcomprise rules and procedures governing its work in application of the present law.These internal regulations shall be approved byvirtue of a decision issued by the Minister withinone week after its submission.
 
Republic of LebanonParliamentary Election Law 2008
Unofficial Translation
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Article 15
 No Commission member shall, at the same time,hold the office of Prime Minister or Minister,Head of Parliament or Member of Parliament, or of Board President or Member of any publicinstitution, or President or Member of anymunicipal council. In addition, a Commissionmember shall not be entitled before the lapse of one whole year as of the expiry of his term of office, to run for parliamentary, municipal or mayoral elections or fill any public, political or administrative position.
Article 16
The Commission president and members may not,during their term of office, carry out any task or activity that is incompatible with the functionsand impartiality of the Commission.During their work within the Commission, the president of the commission and its members shallabstain from giving any lectures or participatingin any seminar related to elections. They shall alsoabstain from issuing any declaration of any type.The Commission shall decide to terminate theterm of office of a member in case he breaches theaforementioned obligations, pursuant to the provisions of its bylaws, provided that thecommission’s decision is approved by theMinister.
Article 17
 None of the members of the Commission shall besubject, without the Commission’s authorization,to any criminal action, criminal measure or arrestduring their term of office for acts related to their mission within the Commission. No decision of  provisional detention shall be taken against any of the Commission members for acts not related totheir mission within the Commission, except
in flagrante delicto
.The Minister of Justice shall submit a request for commencing proceedings or appropriate legalmeasures, according to a note from the AttorneyGeneral of the Court of Cassation including thenature, place and time of the act, and relevantsummary of evidence supporting such proceedings and penal measures.The request for commencing procedures shall besubmitted to the Minister.The Commission shall be convened within oneweek to consider the request and take the relevantdecision after listening to the concernedCommission Member or the concerned member who shall not take part in the vote. TheCommission shall render its decision based on anabsolute majority system of voting within thesame timeframe and send it to the Minister for approval.
Article 18
The Commission President and Members shallreceive a monthly flat remuneration determined pursuant to a decree issued by the Council of Ministers upon the Minister’s suggestion.
Article 19
The Commission shall be in charge of thefollowing tasks and prerogatives:1-
 
Receive the requests of the private printed andaudio visual media wishing to participate in the paid electoral advertising pursuant to the provisions of this law.2-
 
Supervise the compliance of lists, candidates,and mass media of any form whatsoever, with therules and regulations governing electoralcompetition pursuant to the provisions of this law.3-
 
Supervise electoral spending pursuant to the provisions of this law.4-
 
Receive the financial statements of theelectoral campaigns of lists and candidates withinone month of polling day, and audit them.5-
 
Draw up a report on the Commission’sactivities, forward it to the Minister who shallsubmit it to the President of the Republic, Cabinetand parliament. The report shall be published inthe official gazette.
Article 20
The competent civil society organizations mayaccompany and observe the elections providedthey fulfill the following conditions:-
 
The organization should be Lebanese, non- political and non-profit, having duly lodged itsarticles of incorporation at least three years beforethe request filing date.-
 
It should not be connected to any political side.Its administrative board should not include anycandidate running for elections.-
 
Its statutes should specify, for the last threeyears at least, objectives on the promotion of democracy, human rights, elections, transparency,or training related to these issues.-
 
The organization’s members should not be lessthan 100 at the filing date of the request pursuantto lists duly submitted to the competent publicauthorities.-
 
Its administrative board shall comply with aCode of Ethics established by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities hereafter called“Ministry”-
 
The Ministry shall examine the receivedaccreditation requests and verify the fulfillment of 
of 00

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