A voter casts a ballot at a polling station during the municipal elections in Lebanon in May 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The results of Lebanon's recent municipal elections in May showed that women now make up 10.37 percent of municipal council members, nearly double the rate in the last vote in 2016, which stood at 5.4 percent, according to the Interior Ministry. The outcome is seen as encouraging, especially given the rise in female candidacies across the country — 12 percent in 2025, up from 7 percent in 2016. But "at this rate and without the establishment of female quotas, it would still take 55 years for women's municipal participation to reach 30 percent," cautioned Abir Chebaro, gender adviser and founder of the NGO Equipaths. Not all municipalities performed equally, and the disparity between cities remains stark. In Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, no women were elected despite 22 women running among a total of 188 candidates. By...
The results of Lebanon's recent municipal elections in May showed that women now make up 10.37 percent of municipal council members, nearly double the rate in the last vote in 2016, which stood at 5.4 percent, according to the Interior Ministry. The outcome is seen as encouraging, especially given the rise in female candidacies across the country — 12 percent in 2025, up from 7 percent in 2016. But "at this rate and without the establishment of female quotas, it would still take 55 years for women's municipal participation to reach 30 percent," cautioned Abir Chebaro, gender adviser and founder of the NGO Equipaths. Not all municipalities performed equally, and the disparity between cities remains stark. In Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, no women were elected despite 22 women running among a total of 188...
