Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Lebanese expatriates vote in parliamentary polls for first time

1320044
1320044
minus
plus

BEIRUT: Expatriates kicked off Lebanon’s parliamentary polls by voting abroad on Friday, a first for the small country’s huge diaspora. The 12,611 Lebanese voters registered in the Middle East will be the first to cast ballots for the 128 seats in Lebanon’s parliament.


Voters elsewhere in the world will vote on Sunday, a week before the May 6 polling in Lebanon, which has not renewed its parliament since 2009.


But of the estimated one million-plus Lebanese nationals scattered across the globe, of which around two thirds qualify to vote, a total of only 82,900 people have registered.


Akram Khater, director of a centre for Lebanese diaspora studies at North Carolina State University, says promotion for the new initiative has been limited.


“This is a new experiment that has been poorly publicised, and many are not sure of the mechanism, the implications of their vote,” he said.


Others may be disillusioned after a series of political crises that notably saw the last parliament extend its own mandate three times.


“Many are reluctant to participate in what is widely regarded as rigged elections which will only bring back the same crop of politicians from the same parties,” Khater said.


The numbers of voters registered outside Lebanon is a fraction of the 3.7 million eligible voters at home. But for a first try, “it’s a satisfactory” number, a diplomat said.


The vote is being held under a new law that allows Lebanese living abroad to vote for the first time since independence in 1943 and introduces a proportional list-based system. Expatriates will cast their vote for one list of candidates running in their Lebanese district of origin.  — AFP


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon