1968 Lebanese general election

1968 Lebanese general election

24 March–7 April 1968
All 128 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon 65 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	49.57% (3.42pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pierre Gemayel Camille Chamoun Raymond Eddé Party Kataeb National Liberal National Bloc Leader's seat Beirut I Chouf Byblos Last election 4 7 3 Seats won 9 8 6 Seat change 5 1 3

General elections were held in Lebanon between 24 March and 7 April 1968.[1] Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although many of them were considered to be members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 49.6%.[2] Politically the election was a confrontation between the mainly christian Tripartite Alliance and Chehabists candidates.

Background

According to the 1960 constitution, the 99 seats were divided amongst ethnic and religious groups:[3]

Group	Seats
Maronite Christians	30
Sunni Muslims	20
Shi'ite Muslims	19
Greek Orthodox	11
Druze	6
Greek Catholics	6
Armenian Orthodox	4
Protestants	1
Armenian Catholics	1
Other	1

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Kataeb Party			9	+5
	National Liberal Party			8	+1
	National Bloc			6	+3
	Progressive Socialist Party			5	–1
	Armenian Revolutionary Federation			4	0
	Party of the Constitutional Union			3	–2
	Najjadeh Party			1	+1
	National Action Movement			1	New
	Independents			62	–8
Total				99	0
Total votes		614,280	–
Registered voters/turnout		1,239,199	49.57
Source: Nohlen et al.

Electoral districts

Marjeyoun-Hasbaya

The district has 4 seats allocated to 2 Shiites, 1 Sunni and 1 Greek Orthodox Christian. There were eleven candidates in the fray, with ten candidates contesting on three different tickets. The eleventh candidate contested on his own.[4] The fight stood primarily between two tickets, each headed by a candidate from the al-As'ad family (a powerful Shiite family in the area).[5]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p183 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
2. Nohlen et al., p184
3. Lebanon Inter-Parliamentary Union
4. Zuwiyya, Jalal. The Parliamentary Election of Lebanon 1968. Leiden: Brill, 1972. pp. 41, 53-55
5. Zuwiyya, Jalal. The Parliamentary Election of Lebanon 1968. Leiden: Brill, 1972. pp. 41, 53-55