Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad.
As you might know, Lebanon's been swept up in weekly installments of municipal elections since May 4, when Mount Lebanon kicked off the first round. North Lebanon and Akkar had their elections last Sunday, and now May 18 had voters from the Bekaa and Beirut lining up at the poll booths, where they will cast their ballots for their choice candidates for municipal council.
And that’s a big deal.
These will be only the seventh municipal elections held in Lebanon in over 70 years; the previous ones took place in 1952, 1963, 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016.
So the last vote was way back in 2016, and since municipal councils serve a 6-year term, their mandate should’ve expired in 2022. But instead of new elections, we got delay after delay, mainly due to the 2019 financial meltdown, the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, and the usual administrative chaos.
Let’s break it down:
1. What exactly are municipal and mukhtar elections?
Municipal and mukhtar elections are local elections held to choose members of municipal councils and mukhtars (see below). They’re supposed to be held every six years, if things go according to plan. A double vote will happen across the country over four consecutive Sundays in 2025. The schedule looks like this:
- May 4: Mount Lebanon
- May 11: North Lebanon
- May 18: Beirut and the Bekaa
- May 24: South Lebanon (Here, voting was moved up a day from May 25 to avoid clashing with Liberation Day — a national holiday that marks the end of Israeli occupation in 2000)
On election day, voters cast two ballots:
- One for the municipal council, which handles local governance, public services, and development. The council then elects a president (mayor) and vice-president from among its members to hold executive power.
- The second vote is for the mukhtar – a neighborhood-level official responsible for issuing civil documents like birth and death certificates, and assisting residents with ID and passport paperwork.
To vote, you must be a Lebanese citizen, at least 21 years old by the end of January in the election year, and registered on the national electoral roll, the same one used for parliamentary elections.
Not sure where to vote in Mount Lebanon? Just check this Interior Ministry document or fill out this form to find your polling station.
2. What do the elections look like in Bekaa and Beirut?
Three governoates are involved in May 18th election. Beirut is one governorate unto itseld, and the Bekaa is made up of two governorates: Bekaa and Baalbeck-Hermel.
In Beirut, a single municipal council of 24 members must be elected by Beirutis, who can cast their ballots at dozens of polling stations across all neighborhoods of the capital.
Here's a list of Bekaa's districts and the number of councils:
📍 West Bekaa: 31 councils
📍 Rashaya: 26 councils
📍 Zahle: 30 councils
And Baalbeck-Hermel and its two districts:
📍 Baalbeck: 76 municipal councils
📍Hermel: 8 councils.
3. What voting system is used, and what does the law say?
Put very simply, municipal elections use a majority, winner-takes-all system (based on the Municipal Act of 1977) with NO legal quotas based on religion. It’s the same system that was employed back in 2016. How does it work?
- Voters are not limited to closed lists (meaning you don’t have to vote for the entire list as it is) or preferential voting (choosing a preferred candidate from the list, like in the parliamentary vote).
- You can vote for one, two, or more candidates, or even a full list, and you can cross out names too.
- The candidates who get the most votes win. Period.
- Folks in the diaspora cannot vote (unlike in legislative elections).
Bonus info: This is different from the proportional system used in the last parliamentary elections, where:
Seats are divided based on the total number of votes each list receives, using a formula (electoral quotient) to decide how many seats each list gets.
4. Why do these municipal elections matter right now?
Because they’re the closest level of government to the people, and they’re happening one year before the 2026 parliamentary elections, in a country that’s been stuck in political limbo for years. With President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pushing for a reform agenda, municipal elections are a first test of whether anything has actually changed.
5. Special cases: What’s up with Beirut’s council, and what are ‘megacenters?’
- In Beirut, the 24-member municipal council has long followed an unwritten 12 Christians / 12 Muslims formula, not required by law, but upheld politically since 1998.
With former Prime Minister Saad Hariri (Sunni) bowing out of politics, and no clear Sunni bloc, Christian parties fear that the balance of parity could collapse, especially with open ballots that let voters mix and match candidates, and in a context where Sunnis represent the largest share of the electorate. Some MPs have pushed for legal fixes or even splitting Beirut in two constituencies, but none have passed.
- Meanwhile, there’s growing pressure to set up voting megacenters – large polling stations in major cities that let people physically vote where they live — noting that they still vote for the municipalities in which they’re registered (which is not necessarily where they live). It’s a key demand from activists and reformists, especially after the destruction of southern villages in the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which displaced thousands.
Megacenters could also reduce voter intimidation and clientelism, particularly in areas dominated by one single party.
- Automatic election or co-optation occurs when one list wins unopposed. The Lebanese Association for Electoral Democracy (LADE) is opposed to this option, as candidates are often pressured not to run so that only one list wins — particularly in towns where one political party has a strong influence. This option was recently mentioned in the press concerning villages in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah and the Amal movement want to avoid elections in a security context that remains tense.
