On March 19, 2009, the Lebanese parliament voted unanimously to adopt a constitutional law reducing the voting age from 21 years to 18 years. The law will now be forwarded to the Council of Ministers for further consideration. The debate of whether the voting age should be lowered had enveloped Lebanon for some time before this decision passed. In order to prepare for the possibility of having a younger segment of the population voting, Nahwa al-Muwatiniya (NA-AM), a local NGO, began a program of democracy education with the participation of IFES.
The project, Baddi Koun Mas’oul (“I want to be responsible”), consists of a practical half-day curriculum that teaches the basic tenets of elections at schools. Approximately 50 students between the ages of 16 and 17 are taken through a nine-step process that covers the different aspects of the democracy including the difference between a majority and proportional electoral system. The program has been rolled out in 52 state schools across the country in both rural and urban areas.
“The students are also informed of their rights and duties as responsible citizens within the context of the democratic system and the ethical standards required for the integrity of the electoral procedure,” Tamim Bou Karroun, the Project Coordinator for NA-AM says. “Students also learn about more technical issues concerning elections that include election administration, observation and media regulations.”
In the village of Diddeh in Northern Lebanon, 53 excited 16-year-olds listened to Tamim Bou Karroun, the Project Coordinator for NA-AM, explain the outline of the program. Bou Karroun and six trainees then organized the students into groups to begin the practical lesson. The six groups represented the election administration body, two observer teams and three political parties.
As soon as they were assembled into their sections, the youth began to name their groups and to debate what their demands would be. The three parties they formed were Reform and Future, Our Voice and Black Hand. The demands made included refurbishing the school, fulfilling student needs, and teaching more foreign languages apart from the English, Arabic and French classes that are already offered. After the nominated spokesperson from each party read out the demands, the students voted for the party they wanted to elect.
“We do two elections for the youth to show them the difference between a proportional election system and a majority,” said Tamim Bou Karroum.
Election booths were set up complete with a black curtain for secrecy. Electoral administrators ensured that each voter was registered, allowed to vote in private and only voted once. After all the votes were in, there was a whirl of excitement as each vote was read out and the students waited to learn which party would win. The vote resulted in a tie with each party gaining one seat each and three votes being cancelled.
Nahwa al-Muwatiniya continues to implement this project in other schools across the country allowing hundreds of pupils to learn in a practical manner about the culture and process of democracy. Nahwa al-Muwatiniya hopes that Baddi Koun Mas’oul will help prepare the youth to embrace their voting rights with a good understanding of the electoral process which will in turn build a stronger democratic system in Lebanon.