El Miseiȧ el Waṫane

El Miseiȧ el Waṫane ittifeiȧ ġeir maktoob, lli assas Lebnein ka dawle xadeedet el ṫawaayef, w baxdo mȧasser xal siyeise la hallaȧ. Ḣiwaar bein ȧiyeideit el Mwaarne wel Senna wel Ceexa adda lal Miseiȧ el Waṫane bi ṡeif 1943, w ahha kamein lal aḣdeis lli ḱallet Lebnein yistȧell. Men ahamma noȧaṫ el Miseiȧ henne:

* the Maronites to not seek foreign intervention and accept Lebanon as an "Arab" affiliated country, instead of a "Western" one. * the Muslims (Shi'a and Sunnis) to abandon their aspirations to unite with Syria * the President of the Republic to always be Maronite. * the President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) to always be Sunni. * the President of the National Assembly to always be Shi'a.   * the deputy speaker of the Parliament has to always be a Greek Orthodox * Parliament members to be in a ratio of 6:5 in favour of Christians to Muslims (Binder 1966:276).

A Christian majority in the 1932 census was the underpinning of a government structure that gave the Christians control of the presidency, command of the armed forces, and a Parliamentary majority. However, following a wider trend, the generally poorer Muslim population has increased faster than the richer Christians. Additionally, the Christians were emigrating in large numbers, further eroding their only marginal population edge, and it soon became clear that Christians wielded a disproportionate amount of power. As years passed without a new census, dissatisfaction with the government structure and sectarian rifts increased, eventually sparking the Lebanese civil war (Randal 1983: 50).

The Taif Agreement of 1990 changed the ratio of Parliament to 50:50 and reduced the power of the Maronite Christian president.