BEIRUT, May 5 -- Some 3.7 million Lebanese people are registered to cast their votes in the parliamentary elections on Sunday, the first of their kind since the adoption of a new law that allows proportional representation.
However, despite the abolition of the old majoritarian electoral system where the winner takes all, no major changes are expected in the political distribution of powers inside the parliament, because of the preferential voting system introduced in the new electoral law.
"How can you expect a representation of the political minorities in the parliament, when you introduce what is called the preferential voting, in which the Lebanese will cast according to their sectarian attribution," Hicham Nasreddine, head of Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) electoral body, told Xinhua.
The voters will focus on "their protectors" with no attention "to any new aspiring candidates," said Nasreddine, whose party represents the majority of the Druzes in Lebanon.
But Khalil Hamadeh, a politburo member of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Lebanon's largest Christian party established by President Michel Aoun and headed by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, disagreed as his party aims for more seats in the parliamentary elections under the new electoral law.
"Our party aspires for a larger representation than what we already have in parliament, to restore the Christian representation in the hands of its owners," he told Xinhua.
"Change is coming and you will see the results on May 7," Hamadeh said.
Christians and Druzes were engaged in a fierce battle during the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990, causing the displacement of most Christians from their villages and towns after the Druzes managed to win the war.
In addition to the apparent rivalry between the Christians and Druzez in their campaign for the 128 seats in the parliament, many big names, including former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Deputy House Speaker Farid Makari, have decided not to run.
Despite the big hopes built around the participation of the civil society in the upcoming elections, many Lebanese people still find themselves mired in the sectarian strife gripping the country, as it is most likely that they will have to wait for another four years to see any change in the parliament.