We are a group of young people coming from different social, cultural, and educational backgrounds who all share an interest in realizing reform in the Lebanese political system by advocating for the adoption of a new electoral law.
Assisted by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) and in collaboration with Partners for Democratic Change (PDC), we have come together and formed a “Youth Coalition for Electoral Reform” – Cha’en - which is working to achieve the aforementioned objectives.
The Campaign is led by a group of young experts and facilitated by a Coordinating Team which orients the coalition work-groups, the campaign as a whole, and follows up on Cha’en’s activities.
Cha’en initiated out of the “Building a Youth Coalition for Advocacy and Reform in Lebanon” project implemented by LCPS in collaboration with PDC which extends over a period of 18 months. This project has given young Lebanese leaders, between the ages of eighteen and thirty five, the opportunity and necessary practical experience and skills to form a coalition with the mission of undertaking a national advocacy campaign that advocates for meaningful youth participation in the political development of Lebanon. (For more information on this program refer to the “Building a Youth Coalition for Advocacy and Reform in Lebanon” Overview)
Considering that the electoral law in Lebanon has changed very little over the last decade and that elections have occurred regularly except during the war years. Although, after the war years, the Lebanese election laws were modified, controversy continues over the authenticity of representation due to frequent disagreement over the fairness of the adopted laws. Despite these controversies, the electoral law has changed very little over the last decade. Many of the very few changes that have been made to the electoral laws have been introduced and designed to serve the parochial interests of particular parties. When, the Lebanese society has dramatically changed add to that the factors that have encircled the post-war electoral processes; Cha’en is thus dedicating its work primarily to advocating for a new, fair and modern electoral law.
Cha’en’s objectives principally focus on leading an advocacy campaign for the adoption of a modern and democratic electoral law which increases the rights of women and young adults, ensures transparent and free elections, includes campaign finance regulations, regulates the media, and generally modernizes the Lebanese electoral system.
In order to achieve its objectives, theCha’en campaign has designed a series of activities aimed at realizing, and increasing youth awareness of the need for reform in the Lebanese electoral law. This action plan was designed during a “Youth Forum” that gathered 45 young people from all over Lebanon. During this forum participants, led by the “coordination team” agreed on focusing on five areas related to the electoral reform.
1- Introducing a quota for women to increase their participation in political life
2- Emigrant voting rights
3-Establishing an Independent Committee for Proctoring Elections
4- Enforced regulation of press coverage, campaigning, and electoral spending
5-Lowering the voting age to 18 years
Reconsidering issues related to the confessional nature of the current electoral system will also be an important aspect of all of “Cha’en’s” work.
Cha’en has put forth a set of activities in its action plan which facilitates the achievement of its goals. Activities include: events such as organizing roundtable discussions, debate forums, outreach sessions, media appearances, article publication, distributing brochures, and election simulations. Coalition members will also give informative lectures to high school and university students regarding the importance of youth participation in public life and the indispensable need for their participation in the process of electoral reform. These efforts will be coordinated with education and outreach through the arts including a play written and performed by coalition members. A parallel direct advocacy effort for the coalition’s objectives will be made through cooperation with civil society movements, associations, parliamentarians and the governmental groups will occur.
Media Meeting: Launching the Cha’en Campaign
-The first activity will be the organization of a meeting between Cha’en and the media.
-At this meeting Cha’en will explain to the media its objectives and ideas.
This activity will be used as a first step in building a partnership between the media and Cha’en in order to promote the campaign objectives.
Ten Outreach Sessions
- A series of 10 outreach workshops will be organized (Six workshops will be held outside of Beirut and four will be held in Beirut.)
- Each workshop will last one full day and will gather a range of 75-80 participating youth.
- Each workshop will be divided into a series of sub-workshops addressing issues such as women’s participation in the electoral process, lowering the voting age, and overall reform of the electoral law. Cha’en will lead the sessions but will invite in expert speakers including academics and members of parliament to address on specific topics.
- By the end of each outreach session a questionnaire will be filled out by the session’s participants, regarding issues of setting a quota for the inclusion of women in Parliament, lowering the voting age to 18 years, and several other different concerns related to electoral reform. The results of these questionnaires will be recorded by the Cha’en members and summarized in a report reflecting the opinions gathered through this “survey” of over 800 youth from throughout Lebanon. The aim of this report is to assess Lebanese youth’s political attitude, their perception of the electoral process and their needs in regards to public life participation in order to come up with a set of recommendations pertaining to the latter mentioned areas.
- A final session will be arranged in Beirut where the findings and the overall outcome of the campaign will be announced. Participants from the earlier outreach workshops will be invited to attend the session along with elections experts, journalists, and members of parliament. A complete review of the Cha’en campaign will be carried out at this session as will a final evaluation. The evaluation report will be shared with the media, government representatives, and other groups targeted by the campaign.
As these sessions occur, Cha’en will undertake an advocacy campaign targeting MPs, civil society organizations, and other decision makers. Participants from the sessions will be encouraged to support the campaign.
Building Support through Music:
- A musical concert titled “Youth Participating in the decision making process” will be held on the last day of the outreach sessions. This concert will draw youth attention to the indispensable need for their participation in the decision making process. Information will be circulated around, as well as it throws in more vigorous techniques for promoting the campaign ideas and advocating for it among youth.
This concert will not only specifically target youth but will impact the wider society as its message spreads.
Interactive Awareness Raising: “Masrahiyat Al Intikhabet”
- A play entitled, “Masrahiyat Al Intikhabet”, has been created to draw youth attention to matters regarding transparency, accountability, public disclosure and media performance.
- The play tackles two issues: .The first act will open critical debate about the attitudes regarding these issues of both the general population and candidate attitudes. .The second act will address the media’s role in the electoral process.
- At the end of each show an interactive debate between Cha’en members, audience members, and invited journalists who will in their turn, encourage further discussion of these important issues.
The play has been both created and will be performed by youth. It will be displayed to public figures working in the fields of media and journalism, as well as to other youth. The play will take on the task of alerting its audience to the risks resulting from unsatisfactory performances in the areas of transparency, accountability, and media coverage.
Public Relations and Awareness Raising
Finally, throughout the campaign period Cha’en will create and distribute brochures, posters, and reports with the purpose of raising awareness about the work of the campaign. These materials will also increase the circulation of the ideas being promoted by the campaign team to an audience that is wider than that that will be reached through specific activities. As this is a political issue, the campaign team will use these activities to engage with political and community decision makers.
