A paper by IFES-Lebanon explores the alternatives to the bloc vote system that could be used for electing municipal councils. In Lebanon the bloc vote system is used in both parliamentary and municipal elections. At the municipal level, however, unlike at the parliamentary level, no council seats are reserved for the different confessional groups. This voting system can therefore result in the underrepresentation of non-dominant groups at the lower level. Politicians and the public are now debating the possibility of introducing an alternative electoral system for municipal elections. The paper is designed to contribute to the debate on electoral systems and does not define IFES’ policy in relation to the 2010 municipal elections in Lebanon. The paper can be accessed
here.