1968 Lebanese general election in Beirut I

Lebanese general election, 1968 in Beirut I

March 24, 1968 (1968-03-24)

8 out of the 99 members of the Parliament of Lebanon →

First party Second party Third party   Leader Pierre Gemayel Movses Der Kaloustian Michel Georges Sassine Party Kataeb ARF Independent Seats after 3 3 2

Voting to elect eight members of the Lebanese parliament took place in the Beirut I district (one of three electoral districts in the city) on March 24, 1968, part of the national general election of that year.^[1] The constituency had 98,439 eligible voters, out of whom 28,631 voted (29.59 percent, the lowest turn-out of all constituencies).^[2][3] The elections in Beirut I passed smoothly without violent incidents.^[1]

In Beirut I, which comprised the Christian parts of the city, had 3 Armenian Orthodox seats, 1 Armenian Catholic seat, 1 Greek Catholic seat, 1 Greek Orthodox seat, 1 Maronite seat and 1 Protestant seat (for more information about the Lebanese election system, see Elections in Lebanon).^[1][4]

Two tickets competed against each other in the Beirut I constituency. One list was headed by the Kataeb Party chairman Pierre Gemayel and the other was head by Michel Georges Sassine. There were also four candidates outside of the two tickets.^[1]

The Gemayel ticket won six of the eight seats, whilst the Sassine ticket won two.^[1] The Kataeb Party ran a sophisticated and well-organized election campaign.^[5] However considering that Beirut I was a stronghold of the Kataeb, it had been expected that Gemayel's candidates won win all the seats up for grabs. Instead two sitting parliamentarians on the Gemayel ticket were defeated. Possibly the fact that Armenian candidates were elected unopposed led to lower participation from Armenian voters (whose Armenian Revolutionary Federation was an ally of Kataeb), weakening the position of the Gemayel ticket.^[1]