National

Lebanon is a republic with a president, a cabinet and unicameral National Assembly.

Until 1990 an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact specified that the president had to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff a Druze.

Parliamentary seats were apportioned among the various sects in accordance with a six to five ratio of Christians to Muslims, as were cabinet, judiciary and military posts. The parliament has legislative powers and elects the president for a six-year non-renewable term.

Under constitutional reforms set by a peace accord in 1990, many of the powers of the Christian president were shifted to a half-Christian, half-Muslim cabinet, and the Muslim prime minister was to countersign presidential decrees. Parliamentary elections were last held in 1996.