Lebanese Arab Congress

The Lebanese Arab Congress (Arabic: المؤتمر العربي اللبناني al-mu’tamr al-‘arabī al-lubnānī) is the unicameral legislative assembly of the Lebanese Arab Republic, of the 20 republics (federated states) of the Arab Union. The Lebanese Arab Congress functions as the lawmaking and deliberative body of Lebanon's republican-level government, and is empowered to create and abolish all legislation except criminal law, which is under the exlusive jurisdiction of the Arab Congress (the legislative branch of the Arab Union federal government).

In addition to deliberating upon and passing or repealing legislation, the Lebanese Arab Congress is also responsible for choosing the executive leadership of Lebanon (the government) including the Premier of Lebanon, the republic's head of government. The Lebanese Arab Congress consists of 128 seats, each of which represents a particular electoral district with a population of roughly 64,000. All eligibile voters in each district cast a vote for the candidate of their choice running in their district; while some sitting deputies (members of congress) are independents, the majority belong to a particular political party. Following a congressional election, which takes place every three years, the political party or coalition holding the most seats in congress (usually a plurality, but a majority in the event of other major parties forming a coalition) are eligibile to form the executive government.

The eligible party or coalition nominates a member (typically its leader or another senior member) as Premier of Lebanon, who is subsequently ceremonially appointed by the President of the Arab Union. Once appointed, the Premier selects the members of his cabinet (which is called the Council of Ministers), who each chair a particular ministry (executive department) and in turn appoint an undersecretary and assistant minister as well as directors in charge of each of the various directorates and agencies under their ministry's jurisdiction, thereby forming the executive government.

The Premier of Lebanon and his government (the Council of Ministers) must maintain the confidence of the Lebanese Arab Congress to remain in office, as the government can be dissolved and/or the Premier removed from office by a simple vote of no confidence in congress. The President of the Arab Union also has the power to remove the Premier and/or his government via executive order. The removal of a premier and/or dissolution of a government by either no-confidence vote or presidential executive order automatically triggers a new congressional election, the only way by which a new premier and/or new government can be appointed.