Candidates brace for Lebanon's May parliamentary polls

By Edward Haddad

BEIRUT (AA) - Hundreds of people have registered their candidacies in the run-up to Lebanese parliamentary polls slated for May 6, according to local officials.

Faten Yunus, director-general for political affairs and refugees, said at a press conference late Tuesday that 976 people had officially registered to compete for the assembly’s 128 seats.

Candidates reportedly include 111 women, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total.

Lebanon’s last parliamentary polls in 2009 featured 702 candidates, of whom only 12 (1.7 percent) were women.

For the first time in Lebanon, elections will be conducted on a proportional basis, which will see the country divided into 15 electoral zones.