Electoral amendments: The battle for expatriate voting rights in Lebanon

LBCI

3 days ago

Report by Maroun Nassif, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi
On May 9, 2025, MPs of the Lebanese Forces Party, Change and Opposition blocs, and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) submitted an urgent draft law to amend the electoral law.
The proposal sought to abolish the six seats reserved for expatriates, instead allowing them to vote in their place of registration, meaning each voter would cast a ballot for the seats allocated to their district.
On June 23, a month and a half later, the Parliament's bureau convened to prepare the agenda for a legislative session scheduled for June 30.
LBCI learned from parliamentary sources that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri refused to include the aforementioned draft law on the session's agenda during the meeting, despite persuasion attempts by MPs Hadi Aboul Hosn and Alain Aoun.
Berri insisted on referring it to the sub-committee studying electoral law amendments, justifying his decision by stating, "Just as I referred the draft law submitted by MP Samy Gemayel, which did not have urgency status, to the sub-committee, I am referring this proposal as well."
Berri's decision sparked outrage among the proponents of the proposal, as they were already aware that the Amal-Hezbollah duo completely rejects the principle of expatriate voting, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) also opposes abolishing the six seats reserved for expatriates.
Given this precise alignment, a crucial question arises: If Speaker Berri maintains his stance and the draft law remains stalled in committees, will MPs from the Lebanese Forces, the Change bloc, the Socialist Party, Armenians, and their allies resort to obstructing Parliament and preventing its sessions from convening by breaking the quorum?
For the Lebanese Forces, this option is on the table.
However, for others, specifically the PSP MPs, disrupting the Parliament's quorum is not an option, as MP Bilal Abdallah told LBCI. He stated that historically, even in the most challenging circumstances, they have never disrupted the Parliament or any other constitutional institution.
Similarly, Armenian MPs who signed the draft law also reject disrupting Parliament.
Practically, the 68 MPs who support the draft law to abolish the six seats will not remain 68, or even 65, if the option of disrupting Parliament is tabled.
Therefore, if they are faced with a choice between two options —either proceeding with the six seats as MP Gebran Bassil desires or completely abolishing expatriate voting as preferred by the duo —the answer is no answer until this moment.