Lebanon finally votes

After a number of failed starts, Lebanon is finally voting today in its first election in nearly a decade.

Two basic alliances make up the core split in politics in Lebanon. The March 8th alliance, known for its Pro-Syrian stance, and the March 14th alliance, known for its Anti-Syrian stance. To keep things simple, I'll tag these two basic alliances as (P) for Pro-Syria, and (A) for Anti-Syria.

Lebanon is also split on religious lines. Christian groups, mostly nominated by the orthodox Maronite Church, form a large share of the population, while the majority of Lebanese are Muslim, mostly split between Sunni and Shia. These are noted by the name of the dominant religion or ethnic group.

Lastly is the right-left balance within the party if any.

The main parties are as follows.

Future Movement (A) Sunni - Moderate

Free Patriotic Movement (P) Christian - Nationalist

Amal Movement (P) Shia - Conservative

Hezbollah (P) Shia - Nationalist

Lebanese Forces (A) Christian - Christian Democrat

Progressive Socialist (A) Secular - Socialist

Arab Democratic Party (P) Secular - Left

Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (P) Secular - Pro-Arab

Lebanese Democratic Party (P) Druze - Conservative

Independence Movement (A) Christian - Conservative

National Alliance (A) Secular - Moderate

Ramgavar (A) Armenian - Liberal

Rifi Bloc (A) Sunni - Conservative

Syrian Social Nationalist Party (P) Secular - Nationalist

Tashnaq (P) Armenian - Socialist 

To say this is confusing would be an under-statement. 

Pro-Syrian parties tend to be more right-wing, and nationalist in nature. As well, they have quite a bit of support from the Shia community. Anti-Syrian forces are more open to liberal ideals, and have widespread support among the Sunni community. Each side has a major Christian party backing it, and the largest Druze party is Pro. 

The electoral system is heavily based on demographics, with each group electing a certain number of members. This as as follows.

Alawite - 2

Armenian Catholic - 1

Armenian Orthodox - 5

Druze - 8

Protestant - 1

Greek Catholic - 8

Greek Orthodox - 14

Maronite - 34

Minorities - 1

Shia - 27

Sunni - 27

Each electoral area is running its own separate list of candidates. For example, in West Beirut, the Future Movement is running its own separate list; but in the Zahle area, it is running as part of the larger "Zahle for All" list. 

Considering the number of variables possible, discussing things further without some idea of the results will be nearly impossible. I will update the situation as results come in over the next few days.