2016 Lebanese municipal elections

Municipalities in Lebanon are governed by a municipal council. The number of seats on each council ranges from nine to 21, depending on the size of the city, while the largest cities, Beirut and Tripoli have 24 members each. Candidates run on lists and are elected according to plurality at-large voting, meaning voters can cast one vote for as many candidates as there are available seats, and the candidates with the most votes are elected. The system incentivizes cross-sectarian cooperation on lists in order to secure as many votes as possible and can often lead to landslide victories with only a plurality of the vote.

Elections were held on multiple dates in May, depending on governorate, with municipalities in Beirut, Beqaa, and Baalbek-Hermel on May 8, Mount Lebanon on May 15, South Lebanon and Nabatieh on May 22, and North Lebanon and Akkar on May 29.^[1]

In Baalbek the traditional Shia alliance of Hezbollah and Amal, alongside the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, formed the Development and Loyalty list, facing the Baalbek Madinati list formed by the Future Movement and the Islamic Group, both Sunni parties. The initial result showed a very close outcome, but after a recount it was shown that the Development and Loyalty list had a decisive win.^[2]

Most of the traditional political parties came together to form the Beirutis List, which was composed of the Future Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Amal Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The list transcended the division between the March 8 and March 14 alliances. They were opposed by Beirut Madinati, a reformist coalition of civil society and activist groups. Citizens in a State ran on their own list, where their leader Charbel Nahas received 6,917 votes. The Association of Islamic Charitable Projects ran a single candidate, Mohammad Mashaqa. Hezbollah declined to join or back any list. The Beirutis list won all 24 seats.^[2]

The election in Jounieh, a Christian city, was contested by two lists—The Dignity of Jounieh list, backed by the Free Patriotic Movement and Kataeb, and the Jounieh al-Tajaddod list, backed by the Lebanese Forces and influential local figures such as Neemat Frem and Farid Haykal el-Khazen. The election was extremely close, with some candidates only being dozens of votes away from being elected.^[2]

The election in Saida was a competition between the various Sunni forces in the city. The Future Movement, led in Saida by Bahia Hariri, created the Saida's Development list, with the backing of the Islamic Group and former mayor Abdel Rahman el-Bizri, of the influential Bizri family. This was the same alliance of forces that contested the 2010 election on the Loyalty and Development list. They were opposed by the Voice of People list, created by the left-wing Popular Nasserist Organization led by Osama Saad. The Saad family are historical rivals with the Bizris, and more recently the Hariris. A third list, Al-Ahrar, composed of Islamists, was led by Ali Sheikh Ammar, a former leader^[3] in the Islamic Group. A number of its candidates were alleged to be supporters of Salafi cleric Ahmed al-Assir, who has been detained since 2015 for his role in a number of armed clashes in Saida.^[2]