Five months after the national elections, Lebanon finally formed a national unity government last month. Due to the gerrymandered electoral system, the winners of the popular vote March 8 (Shiite Hezbollah and Amal, Michel Aoun’s Christian Tayyar and their allies got 55%) received a minority of the parliamentary seats and the losers of the popular vote March 14 (Saad Hariri’s Future Movement - Sunni, Druze PSP, Geagea’s Lebanese Forces and Gemayel’s Phalangists or Kataeb – both Christian) won the majority of the parliamentary seats.
The reason for the delay is that under the sectarian electoral system, it is necessary to have a consensual democracy, and with the vote falling on mainly sectarian lines, time was needed to negotiate a settlement. The 5 month delay has been caused by both foreign and domestic interests.