Before the election, the voting age was to be lowered from 21 to 18 years, but as this requires a constitutional amendment, it did not happen before the election.
Allocation of seats
Following a compromise reached in the Doha Agreement on May 2008 between the government and opposition, a new electoral law was put in place, as shown in the table below. It was passed on 29 September 2008. colspan=2|Seat allocation according to The Doha Agreement !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Total !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Maronites !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Shi'a !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Sunni !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Greek Orthodox !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Druze !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Armenian Orthodox !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Greek Catholic !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Alawite !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Protestant !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Minorities !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|14 March !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|8 March
Results
Preliminary results indicated that the turnout had been as high as 55%. The March 14 Alliance garnered 71 seats in the 128-member parliament, while the March 8 Alliance won 57 seats. This result is virtually the same as the result from the election in 2005. However, the March 14 alliance saw this as a moral victory over Hezbollah, who led the March 8 Alliance, and the balance of power was expected to shift in its favor. Many observers expect to see the emergence of a National Unity Government similar to that created following the Doha Agreement in 2008. colspan=2|Election Results for each alliance !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Total !style="background-color:#31a5ff" align=right|% 14M !style="background-color:#31a5ff" align=right|14 March !style="background-color:#ff5400" align=right|% 8M !style="background-color:#ff5400" align=right|8 March
As is typical of Lebanese politics political wrangling after the elections took 5 months. Only in November was the composition of the new cabinet agreed upon: 15 seats for the March 14 Alliance, 10 for the March 8 Alliance, and 5 nominated by Lebanese PresidentMichel Suleiman, who has cast himself as a neutral party between the two main political blocks.
Aftermath
The government fell in January 2011 after the March 8 alliance's 11 ministers withdrew from the government over PM Hariri's refusal to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss possible indictments to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The March 8 alliance formed a new government in the ensuing six months.
