1968 Lebanese general election

1968 Lebanese general election

24 March–7 April 1968
All 128 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon 65 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	49.57% (3.42pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pierre Gemayel Camille Chamoun Raymond Eddé Party Kataeb National Liberal Party National Bloc Leader's seat Beirut I Chouf Byblos Last election 4 7 3 Seats won 9 8 6 Seat change 5 1 3

General elections were held in Lebanon between 24 March and 7 April 1968. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although many of them were considered to be members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 49.6%. Politically the election was a confrontation between the mainly christian Tripartite Alliance and Chehabists candidates.

Background

According to the 1960 constitution, the 99 seats were divided amongst ethnic and religious groups:

Group	Seats
Maronite Christians	30
Sunni Muslims	20
Shi'ite Muslims	19
Greek Orthodox	11
Druze	6
Greek Catholics	6
Armenian Orthodox	4
Protestants	1
Armenian Catholics	1
Other	1

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Kataeb Party			9	+5
	National Liberal Party			8	+1
	National Bloc			6	+3
	Progressive Socialist Party			5	–1
	Armenian Revolutionary Federation			4	0
	Party of the Constitutional Union			3	–2
	Najjadeh Party			1	+1
	National Action Movement			1	New
	Independents			62	–8
Total				99	0
Total votes		614,280	–
Registered voters/turnout		1,239,199	49.57
Source: Nohlen et al.

Electoral districts

Marjeyoun-Hasbaya

The district has 4 seats allocated to 2 Shiites, 1 Sunni and 1 Greek Orthodox Christian. There were eleven candidates in the fray, with ten candidates contesting on three different tickets. The eleventh candidate contested on his own. The fight stood primarily between two tickets, each headed by a candidate from the al-As'ad family (a powerful Shiite family in the area).