Beirut III () was an electoral district in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. It covered six neighbourhoods (''quartiers'') in the western parts of the capital; Dar El Mreisse, Mazraa, Minet El Hosn, Moussaitbeh,

Ras Beirut Ras Beirut () is an upscale residential neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon. It has a mixed population of Christians, Muslims and Druze, and is associated with nonsectarian relations between members of thee groupings. Ras Beirut is home to some of ...

and

Zuqaq al-Blat Zuqaq al-Blat () is one of the twelve quarters of Beirut. Etymology Zuqaq al-Blat literally means "the cobbled alley", this was a colloquial name given to the street extending from the old city to the Qantari hill and which was covered with cob ...

.IFES.
Electoral Districts in Lebanon
'' The constituency elected ten members of the

Parliament of Lebanon The Lebanese Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national parliament of the Lebanon, Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in Electoral district, multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's divers ...

; five

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

, one

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

, one

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

, one Protestant, one Greek Orthodox and one Minorities (Lebanon), Minorities (for more information on the Lebanese electoral system, see Elections in Lebanon). The constituency was created with the 2008 Doha Agreement (2008), Doha Agreement, ahead of the 2009 Lebanese general election, 2009 parliamentary election.

Creation

The boundaries and the sectarian seat allocation of the electoral district were defined by the 2008 Doha Agreement (2008), Doha Agreement, which instituted election districts similar to those of the 1960 Election Law.

Demographics

The Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (Lebanon), Ministry of Interior and Municipalities reported in 2011 that the constituency had 256,933 registered voters and the following religious composition: 65.25% Sunni Muslims, 14.21% Shia Muslims, 6.27% Greek Orthodox and 3.18% Minorities. According to an article in ''An-Nahar, Nahar'' newspaper published in May 2008, Beirut III had 172,756 Sunni voters, 38,052 Shias, 17,993 Greek Orthodox, 8,882 Minorities, 5,786 Maronites, 5,425 Armenian Orthodox, 4,735 Druze, 3,054 Protestants and 1,153 Armenian Catholics. It had the second-largest number of registered voters of all electoral districts in the country (after Baalbek-Hermel) and the largest number of Sunni Muslim voters.

2009 election

During the 2009 election there were 252,301 registered voters in Beirut III.

March 8 list

The opposition 'National Decision of Beirut' list was announced on May 17, 2009 at a press conference at the Safir Helipolitan Hotel in Raouche. The list consisted of Ibrahim al-Halabi, Bahaaeddine Itani, Khaled al-Daouk, Omar Ghandour and Sheikh Abdel-Nasser al-Jabri for the Sunni seats, Rafiq Nasrallah (Shia), Ghazi al-Mounzer (Druze), Najah Wakim (Greek Orthodox), George Ishkhanian (Protestant) and Raymond Asmar (Minorities).''Daily Star''.
Rival coalitions unveil tickets for Zahle, Beirut III districts
' The People's Movement (Lebanon), People's Movement had declared Wakim and Al-Halabi as its candidates at a press conference on April 2, 2009. Separately, Itani had declared his candidature on the same day. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation declared George Ishkhanian as its candidate for the Protestant seat on April 10, 2009. Ishkhanian was a businessman, board member of the First Armenian Evangelical Church and chairman of the Armenian Evangelical Youth Union.

March 14 list

The March 14 Alliance list was announced by Saad Hariri at the Al Manara Stadium on May 8, 2009. The candidates of the list were: Hariri, Tamam Salam, Mohammad Qabbani, Ammar Houri and Imad Houth for the Sunni seats, Ghazi Aridi for the Druze seat, Ghazi Yusuf for the Shia seat, Bassem Chab for the Protestant seat, Atef Majdalani for the Greek Orthodox seat and Nabil de Freije for the Minorities seat.Messerlian, Zaven. ''Armenian Participation in the Lebanese Legislative Elections 1934–2009''. Beirut: Haigazian University Press, 2014. p. 479

Voting

103,243 voters cast their votes in Beirut III (40.92%). All ten candidates of the March 14 list were elected with wide margins. The March 14 list got the overwhelming support from the Sunni and Druze communities, as well as most of the Christian vote. The March 8 list won the overwhelming support from the Shia voters.Messerlian, Zaven. ''Armenian Participation in the Lebanese Legislative Elections 1934–2009''. Beirut: Haigazian University Press, 2014. p. 487 Out of 4,900 Jewish registered voters, only five voted. All of them voted for the March 14 list. Apart from the March 8 and March 14 candidates, the most voted candidate was Greek Orthodox Bechara Merhej who got 1,517 (1.49%). Other candidates were Ghazi Khamis (Sunni, 472 votes), Zuheir Khatib (Shia, 314 votes), Salah Araqji (Sunni, 236 votes), Edmond Pauls Boutrous (Minorities, 210 votes), Fadi Romi (Greek Orthodox, 195 votes) and a number of candidates who got less than a 100 votes each. There were 991 blank votes and 705 invalid ballots.Ministry of Interior and Municipalities.
Elections Result – Beirut III
''

2017 Vote Law

As per the new Vote Law adopted by parliament on June 16, 2017, the electoral districts of Beirut were reorganized. The erstwhile Beirut III district merged with the Port and Bachoura quarters (previously in Beirut II (2009), Beirut II), and formed a district henceforth known as 'Beirut II'.GulfNews.
Lebanon to hold parliamentary elections in May 2018
'''Daily Star''.
Analysts skeptical new vote law will lead to change
'' Whilst one Sunni and one Shia seats was added from the old Beirut II district, the Minorities seat shifted to the Christian-dominated Beirut I district.

References

{{Electoral districts of Lebanon Electoral districts of Lebanon, Beirut 2009 03 2000s in Beirut, Beirut 2009 03 2008 establishments in Lebanon, Beirut Electoral 03 2017 disestablishments in Lebanon, Beirut Electoral 03