1972 Lebanese general election

General elections were held in Lebanon between 16 and 30 April 1972. Independent candidates won a majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs. Voter turnout was 54.4%.

1972 Lebanese general election

16–30 April 1972
All 100 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon
Turnout	54.38% (4.81pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Camille Chamoun Pierre Gemayel Kamal Jumblatt Party National Liberal Party Kataeb PSP Leader's seat Chouf Beirut I Chouf Last election 8 9 5 Seats won 11 7 5 Seat change 3 2 0   Fourth party   Leader Melkon Eblighatian Party ARF Leader's seat Beirut I Last election 4 Seats before 4 Seats won 5 Seat change 1

Background

According to the 1960 constitution, the 99 seats were divided amongst ethnic and religious groups:

Group	Seats
Maronite Christians	30
Sunni Muslims	20
Shi'ite Muslims	19
Greek Orthodox	11
Druze	6
Greek Catholics	6
Armenian Orthodox	4
Protestants	1
Armenian Catholics	1
Other	1

Results

See also: 1972 Lebanese general election in Beirut III

The majority of MPs – 63 of the 100 – were elected as independents. However, 52 of them were considered to be members of parliamentary blocs, including 9 in the Faranjiyyah bloc, 9 in the Skaff bloc, 7 in the Assad bloc (which also included the 2 Democratic Socialist Party MPs), 7 in the Karami bloc, 6 in the Hamada bloc, 4 in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation block (which also included the party's single MP), 4 in the Arslan bloc, 3 in the Jumblatt bloc (which also included the five Progressive Socialist Party MPs) and 3 in the Salam bloc.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberal Party			11	+3
	Kataeb Party			7	–2
	Progressive Socialist Party			5	0
	National Bloc			4	–2
	Party of the Constitutional Union			3	0
	Lebanese Social Democratic Party			2	New
	Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party			1	New
	Democratic Party			1	New
	National Action Movement			1	0
	Armenian Revolutionary Federation			1	–3
	Union of Working People's Forces			1	New
	Social Democrat Hunchakian Party			0	New
	Armenian Democratic Liberal Party			0	New
	Syrian Social Nationalist Party			0	New
	Lebanese Communist Party			0	New
	Independents			63	+1
Total				100	+1
Total votes		721,022	–
Registered voters/turnout		1,326,016	54.38
Source: Nohlen et al.