Article 16 of the Lebanese constitution assigned the exercise of legislative power to the parliament. The Article stipulates: “One body, the parliament, is in charge of legislated power”. Article 24 of the constitution stipulates that the parliamentary council “consists of elected representatives whose number and method of election is determined in accordance with the electoral laws in effect. Until the parliamentary council ordains an electoral law outside the sectarian restriction, parliament seats shall be distributed according to the following principles:
1- Equally between Moslems and Christians
2- Relatively between the sects of each of the above groups.
3- Relatively to regions.

As an exception, and for only one time, the vacant parliamentary seats and the seats that are created by the electoral law, all in one stroke and with a two-thirds majority from the National Accord Government, are filled by appointment at the date of promulgation of this law, to maintain equality between Christians and Moslems and in accordance with the National Accord Document, and the electoral law determines the details of applying this Article”.

It can be concluded from this Article that the Lebanese constitution has frankly left the matter of determining the number and methods of election of parliament members to electoral laws. This means that the constitutional legislator, since he did not ordain these matters in the constitution itself but instead referred them to ordinary laws, aimed at avoiding freezing them and facilitating their adaptation to events that may arise with the passing of time and the variation of circumstances .

This fact has led to two important results on the practical level:
The first result: the non-permanence of the number of parliament members, whereby that number used to vary according to amendments made to the electoral laws. This is why we find that the number of parliament members in 1929 was 45, decreased to 25 in the 1934 parliament then rose again to 63 in the parliament of 1937, until law no. 154 was promulgated on 23 July 1992, raising the number of parliament members from 108 to 128 . This is the same number preserved by the latest electoral law promulgated in December 1999.

The second result: The high importance given to amendments made to electoral laws usually generate a large number of conflicts between different sects and political parties in Lebanon and also between the government and legislative power, considering the possible dangerous amendment consequences regarding the number of parliament members and the balance between different active political powers in Lebanon.

Thus, we find that the number of active powers in the Lebanese regime (from Maronites to Moslems and some leftist powers) have refrained from the 1992 elections in objection to some of the electoral law’s Articles and due to their belief that election preparations must reach an electoral law that can be agreed on and that is harmonious with the Taef agreement regarding determining the number of election constituencies based on province rather than the minority system practiced in Lebanon since Independence .

This is what led to the decline in the percentage of participant voters in elections. This percentage was 30% of the total number of voters and rose to 44% in the parliamentary elections conducted in 1996 after several amendments were made to the electoral law that made some forces—except for Maronite opposition groups—retreat on their stance calling for refrain from voting, to the extent that the symbols of refrain in the 1992 elections were at the fore of those calling for participation, in terms of both nomination and voting .

The Lebanese parliament issued on 22 December 1999 a new electoral law for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 15 August and 15 October 2000. This law has generated wide debate in Lebanese political circles due to its dangerous political consequences on the Lebanese regime and the future of democracy in it. The Lebanese were divided between support of and opposition to the electoral law. This debate did not end until after the constitutionally determined legal time for contesting the law before the constitutional council, for parliament members who opposed the law were unable to achieve the contestation document by the signatures of ten Lebanese parliament members .

The issue of dividing Lebanon into 14 constituencies in contrast to the previous law, which had for long divided Lebanon into five traditional constituencies based on provinces, is the most serious of debate-generating issues in the new electoral law, for this division is not based on specific criteria. Parliament members were divided into two groups regarding the draft law. The law’s supporters held that approving a draft law is a positive step in light of regional circumstances and developments and that the law’s Articles respond to the needs of the Lebanese arena’s general situation both locally and regionally. As for parliament members who opposed the law, some limited their opposition to expressing it within the parliament while others opposed the law by contesting it before the Constitutional Council. Criticisms of the law focused on the fact that it does not constitute any basis for legal and electoral stability in the short, intermediate, and long terms and that it does not achieve national fusion because the latter can only be achieved by making all of Lebanon one single constituency .

The danger of the new electoral law resides in its consequences on the sectarian issue, the Lebanese political system’s major dilemma. Dividing Lebanon into 14 constituencies in accordance with the new electoral law is a consecration of sectarian division on a geographical basis instead of achieving national fusion by way of a large constituency. This is in addition to the fact that the political elite in power viewed the new law as an attempt to replace them (this elite represents sectarian political divisions that had been a cause of the civil war) and replacing them with a new elite compatible with the new regime of President Emile Lahoud, who wants to continue his presidency with new politicians who do not represent these divisions .

The Lebanese parliament issued on 21 August 1990 new constitutional amendments based on the Taef Agreement. These amendments had been approved by President Elias Hrawi in September of the same year, and many analysts considered them a declaration of the founding of the second Lebanese Republic. These amendments achieved equality in parliamentary representation between Moslems and Christians and expanded the parliament’s powers and jurisdictions in confronting the executive power. This gave the Lebanese political system a more parliamentary than presidential stamp in the following respects:

First: The parliament now received an important role in the process of selecting a Prime Minister, and though the President of the Republic remains the one in charge of appointing a Prime Minister, he was no longer alone in his selection but instead made it based on negotiations with the parliament.

Second: The parliament became the only authority with the right to dismiss the Prime Minister.

Third: The method by which draft laws of an urgent nature are examined was amended, and the parliament came to have ample time to examine these draft laws and came to have discretionary power to bestow the urgency capacity on the draft law.

Fourth: Enhanced effectiveness of the role of Speaker of Parliament, whereby the term of his presidency became four years, which gave him a wide opportunity to consolidate his status inside the parliament, thus increasing his negotiation capabilities in confronting the president and Prime Minister .

Enhancing the role of each of the parliament, its speaker, the cabinet of ministers, and the Prime Minister expressed the need to effect a balance between the three leadership posts (those of President, Speaker of Parliament, and Prime Minister) to achieve the principle of sharing among them, considering that these presidencies are assigned—by convention and without a legal text—for the three sects respectively (Maronite, Shiite, Sunni) and considering that this balance constitutes a part of national accord .

The jurisdictions by the Lebanese parliament do not differ generally from those exercised by all parliaments in other countries of the world. These jurisdictions are the legislative, financial, and supervisory ones.

Each of the Lebanese constitution and the parliament’s by-laws determined the organization of the parliament’s practice of its jurisdictions in the three fields. Regarding the legislative jurisdiction, Article 16 of the constitution made the practice of legislative power the province of the parliament by stating: “One body, the parliament, is in charge of legislative power”. Article 18 of the constitution stipulates regarding the parliament’s right and that of the cabinet to propose laws that no law can be issued without the parliament’s approval.

The Lebanese parliament enjoys a legislative characteristic in relation to amending the constitution–without the presence of complicated procedures in this regard—for the government can submit to the parliament draft laws proposing constitutional amendment on condition that the amendment draft law is approved by a two-thirds majority of the government. This is the same right also guaranteed for parliament members. Article 77 of the constitution stipulates that the parliament has the right to request reconsideration of the constitution on condition that this occurs in a regular session, based on the proposal of at least ten members, and that this proposal receive the approval of a third of parliament members so that it may be discussed, with the necessity of clearly specifying and mentioning the Articles and issues addressed by the proposal. Then the Speaker of Parliament notifies the government of this proposal, requesting it to submit a draft law on it within a maximum of four months on condition that the proposal receive the approval of two-thirds of the government. If the government opposes it and returns it to the parliament for study, and if the parliament approves it by three quarters of its members, the President of the Republic is obliged either to respond to the parliament’s demands or to request the dismissal of the parliament from the Prime Minister and the holding of new elections in three months. If the new parliament insists on amendment, the government is obliged to yield and to submit the amendment draft law within four months.

Articles 78 and 79 divided the procedures of discussing constitutional amendment proposals. Article 78 of the constitution stipulates: “If a draft law on amending the constitution is submitted to the parliament, the parliament should pursue discussion until it votes on it before all else, but the parliament may not discuss or make a vote except on the articles and issues clearly specified in the draft law submitted to it”. Article 79 of the constitution stipulates the illegality of the council’s investigation or vote on constitutional amendment draft laws without the presence of two thirds of its members. Voting should be made in the presence of the same majority.

A- The Proposal of Laws: In Lebanon, as in the world’s other parliaments, a distinction is made between draft laws submitted by the government and those submitted by parliament members. The former are called draft laws, and the latter are called draft law proposals even though the constitution and by-laws did not give one priority over the other.

The parliament’s by-laws issued in October 1994 stated that draft law proposals be submitted by parliament members to the Speaker of Parliament and that a draft law proposal must not be signed by more than 10 parliament members (Article 101). B- Discussion and Voting: After that, the Speaker of Parliament notifies the parliament of the draft law proposals or draft laws submitted by members and by the government and proceeds to refer the draft law proposals or draft laws to the corresponding specialized committee or committees as soon as it is presented, unless the system decrees special regulations, and the Speaker of Parliament is in charge of referring the draft laws submitted by the government to the specialized committees so that they can study them and prepare reports on them (Articles 26, 102).

The specialized committee proceeds to study the draft law proposals and draft laws referred to it Article by Article and prepares a report covering its members’ viewpoints regarding the draft law or the draft law proposal referred to it within a maximum of one month from the date of referral (Article 38, 41 of the by-laws). Then the committee refers the draft law or draft law proposal to the parliament for general discussion. There, the draft law or draft law proposal is read for discussion, followed by a reading of the specialized committee’s report and the amendments suggested by it. Then parliament members speak (Article 56 of the by-laws), followed by an Article-by-Article discussion of it. Receiving the vote of all the meeting’s quorum is required to issue the draft law or draft law proposal if the constitution or law does not specify a particular majority. Voting on draft laws is made Article by Article via show of hands. After voting on Articles, the topic is submitted in its entirety for voting by roll call (Article 81 and 82 of the by-laws). Prior to voting on the draft law or draft law proposal, the parliament has a right to decide to return it to the committee that studied it, to another committee, or to shared committees to re-examine it in light of the discussions conducted so that the chosen committee would prepare a new report on it within a maximum of 10 days at most (Article 83).

C- Withdrawal of Draft Law and Draft Law Proposals: Regarding the draft laws submitted by the government, Article 103 stated that the draft laws submitted by the government by a presidential decree should not be withdrawn prior to being fully voted on except by another presidential decree. As for draft law proposals submitted by members, the member has a right to submit a written petition to the Speaker of Parliament to withdraw the draft law proposal submitted by him. The Speaker of Parliament must respond to his request if the parliament had not yet begun discussing the draft law proposal. If the parliament had begun discussion, it is up to the parliament to respond to the member’s withdrawal request. If even one parliament member approves the draft law proposal the withdrawal of which has been requested, the parliament is obliged to continue examining it .

Article 38 of the constitution stipulates that it is not legal to resubmit any draft law proposal presented by one of the members to the parliament in the same meeting in which it was refused.