Qifa Nabki
Reform
Ziad Baroud on the Lebanese Elections
Can there be any doubt that Interior Minister Ziad Baroud is the best thing to happen to Lebanese politics in a very long time? I went to hear the minister give the keynote address at a workshop on the Lebanese elections hosted by the Carnegie Middle East Center, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), … Continue reading
A Nineteenth Sect, or None at All?
The editorial in today’s Daily Star discusses Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order authorizing “personnel at his ministry to grant any request to have confessional identity removed from one’s official file at civil registries across the country…” This is a very significant move, yet another feather in the activist minister’s cap. As the editorial goes on … Continue reading
Lucky ’13?: Living With Lebanon’s Watered-Down Electoral Law
The ambitious draft law published by the Boutros Commission is officially on ice. The law actually passed by Lebanon’s parliament is a sad shadow of the original, having been stripped of some of the most potentially far-reaching reforms, such as lowering the voting age, allowing Lebanese living abroad to cast absentee ballots, mandating a fixed … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…