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Edited on Thu May-03-07 03:45 PM by igil
They've had a civil war under the system.
The Parliament's organized the same way, as is, pretty much, the cabinet.
It was set up when the Shi'ites, Sunnis, and Christians were each about a third of the population. In Iraq, the Sunni Arabs, Shi'ite Arabs, and mixed Kurds aren't evenly split.
And that's one of the problem's in Lebanon: They're scared shitless to conduct a census. Everybody knows that the Shi'ite population's increased more than the Sunni and Xian populations and the system is anachronistic, an unrepresentative relic that deprives one group of power it should have and redistributes it to other groups.
If Lebanon turns out to be over 50% Shi'ite, then the proportions roughly parallel Iraq. And you can kiss that system goodbye: With compromise and accommodation as part of the system, not as part of the people and their attitudes, with a 50% + 1 majority much of the compromise would go bye-bye. Good morning, Iraq!
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