Beqaa Governorate

Beqaa Governorate مقاطعة البقاع
Governorate of Lebanon
Map of Lebanon with Beqaa highlighted
Coordinates: 33°50′N 35°54′E
Country	Lebanon
Capital	Zahlé
Government
• Governor	Kamal Abou Jaoudeh
Area
• Total	1,433 km2 (553 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate  (31 December 2017)	534,342
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Beqaa (Arabic: البقاع Al-Biqā') is a governorate in Lebanon and one of the eight districts of the country. It is located in the eastern part of Lebanon and borders with Syria. The capital of the district is the city of Zahlé.

Districts

Since 2014, Beqaa Governorate contains three districts:

• West Beqaa
• Rashaya
• Zahle

A law was passed in 2003 to separate Baalbek District and Hermel District from Beqaa Governorate to form a new governorate, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. Implementation of Baalbek-Hermel began in 2014 with the appointment of its first governor.

Demographics

Religion in the Beqaa Governorate

  Christianity (41%)

  Sunni Islam (37%)

  Shia Islam (15%)

  Druze (7%)

Joub Jeneen, Beqaa Governorate. Syrian refugee camp in foreground. (2015)

According to voter registration data, the governorate is approximately 41% Christian to 52% Muslim to 7% Druze (313505 voters).

In the district (qadaa) of Zahlé (meaning an area much greater than that of the city proper), Christians form a majority of 55% of voters (172555 in total). In the district of West Beqaa-Rashaya (the two are combined as an electoral district), Christians account for 22.22% of voters (140950 in total).