Lebanon’s outnumbered Maronites pull stops on voting age FEATURE 02/23/2010

Lebanon’s outnumbered Maronites pull stops on voting age FEATURE 02/23/2010 BEIRUT — In a country where 18-year-olds can drive, marry and serve in the army, allowing them to vote would generally be applauded as a boon for democracy. But not so in Lebanon. A move to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 has sparked fears of a shake-up of Lebanon’s political structure, a complex power-sharing system between Christians and Muslims that has helped preserve a fragile peace since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The fear resonates most strongly within Lebanon’s once-dominant Maronite Christian community, today estimated at around 30 percent of the four-million population. “Christians fear the numbers,” Paul Salem, who heads the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, told AFP. “Mainly it is a fear that lowering the voting age might be the first step in rethinking the entire political structure.”.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune ALTERNATE URL: http://www.classicposters.com/commentary/20100223com6.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL No bringing back the Edsa ’86 spirit FRONTLINE Fraudulent polls ahead focus Scientists shed light on sleep through the ages NO HOLDS BARRED Rewriting history AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Put me down for a Pulitzer FEATURE Lebanon’s outnumbered Maronites pull stops on voting age FEATURE Salt mining leaves bitter taste for Indian workers