The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Monitoring the Parliamentary Elections of 2018 in Lebanon and their Relationships with the Government

Abstract

This research examines the role of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) in monitoring the parliamentary elections of 2018 and their relationship with the official monitoring body, the Supervisory Commission of Elections (SCE). The research takes into consideration three case studies of NPOs: The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), Social Media Exchange (SMEX), and Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) with an objective to analyze their relationships with the SCE through Coston (1998) framework, which was developed to define the relationship between governments and NPOs based on a list of criteria such as linkage, formality, institutional pluralism, access to information, among others.

The main question that this research aims to answer is as follows: What role did NPOs play during the monitoring of the 2018 Lebanese Elections? The methodology adopted in this research is qualitative, primarily based on the thematic analysis of interviews conducted with government officials and representatives of the NPOs. It is also based on a secondary data analysis, that rely on the analysis of articles from prominent newspapers and informal studies following the elections. It is important to look at the role of NPOs during the elections of 2018 as the country witnesses, almost three years later, an emergence of activism grounded in NPOs and civil society. Following the October 17 uprising, it has become crucial to further delve into the role of NPOs and understand how their presence can be extended.

The Elections of 2018 took place in a unique and complex political climate. While the elections were the first to have taken place after 9 years of no-elections, they also witnessed the emergence of new political, independent candidates detached from the long-ruling political elites. While the three NPOs were able to fulfill their mission in monitoring the elections and their relationships with the government was one of “cooperation”, they faced challenges accessing information, and were able to make little to no policy change following the publication of their reports. Findings of this research open an array of speculations about the attempts of the government to hinder the mission of NPOs and conclude in the necessity of analyzing the relationship within the political climate and not separately from the complexity of the situation in which the elections took place.