Expatriate voting row adds to doubts over Lebanon’s parliamentary elections: The details

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

All discussion surrounding Lebanon’s parliamentary elections remains part of what observers describe as an inconclusive debate over whether the vote will take place as scheduled in May. 

Some view the ongoing debate as a distraction pending a possible decision to postpone the elections, an option that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said had been raised in discussions involving the Quintet Committee.

Berri said he had not named any ambassador from the group or from outside it as having requested a postponement.

Sources at the presidential palace in Baabda said they had not heard any proposal from the Quintet Committee's ambassadors to delay the parliamentary elections. 

During a January 14 meeting between President Joseph Aoun and the ambassadors, attended by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian and Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan, the French representative stressed the need to hold the elections on time, and no opposing position was recorded from any of those present.

Baabda sources said they support Berri’s position in favor of holding the elections as scheduled.

Against this backdrop, and with parliament yet to convene to discuss the government’s draft amendments to the election law, observers following the issue are urging Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar to settle the matter in the Cabinet.

The government must either adopt expatriate voting for all 128 seats, in line with the opinion issued by the Legislation and Consultations Authority, or endorse the report related to the so-called 16th district, which was prepared by former Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi and former Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. 

That report provides for six seats to be elected by Lebanese living abroad, with implementing decrees to be issued accordingly. However, this option runs counter to the electoral direction of Salam’s government.

In what had been expected to be a legal challenge before the State Council by Abbas Fawaz, an ally of Berri, after the Interior Ministry rejected his request to run for the 16th district, LBCI has learned that the matter was dropped following legal consultations. This means there will be no additional legal opinion on expatriate voting beyond that issued by the Legislation and Consultations Authority.

With parliament yet to convene to decide on amendments to the election law, its extraordinary session is set to end at the close of February, with the ordinary session scheduled to begin on March 17. It remains unclear whether conditions will be ripe by then for elections to proceed — or for a possible extension.