December 15 was the deadline to publish the list and transmit copies to municipalities, mokhtars, and governorates. (Joseph Eid/AFP)
The General Directorate of Civil Status published the preliminary voter list for Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections today, containing about 3.97 million names.
The list also includes preliminary numbers on where members of the diaspora are registered to vote, and which countries will be holding elections at embassies and consulates.
These numbers could change, however, as diaspora voters whose registrations were rejected still have until Jan. 1 to appeal.
In order for a Lebanese diplomatic mission abroad to conduct polling for the parliamentary elections, at least 200 Lebanese in that country must register to vote. As of today’s preliminary voter list, 59 countries have cleared that threshold.
The top five countries by number of registrations among the diaspora are France (28,083), the United States (27,925), Canada (27,413), the United Arab Emirates (25,052), and Australia (20,602). The country with the fewest registrants that still cleared the threshold is Luxembourg, with exactly 200 registered voters.
A total of 225,114 people are registered in the 59 countries that are expected to hold overseas polls.
An additional 2,740 members of the diaspora, residing in 72 countries, who registered to vote from overseas will not be able to vote in their countries of residence, as those countries failed to clear the threshold. The General Directorate of Civil Status said their names have been included on the electoral lists inside Lebanon.
The five countries that came closest to meeting the threshold are Armenia (192), Equatorial Guinea (178), Belarussia (172), Gambia (166), and Norway (162).
The directorate also announced today that 681 members of the diaspora had their voter registrations rejected, the reasons for disqualification including criminal convictions, loss of Lebanese nationality, and having become Lebanese citizens less than ten years ago. A further 1,178 voters submitted more than one application. For 753 applicants, the DGCS found no records.
Both resident and non-resident voters have until Jan. 1 to double-check their inclusion on the preliminary voter list and request corrections if they find errors. The list can be viewed online at dgcs.gov.lb or by contacting the relevant municipality or mokhtar.
Citizens who will be over the age of 21 on election day who do not find their names on the voter list, or whose records contain errors, may request an addition to, removal from, or correction to the list. Forms are available on the DGCS website or at branch offices of the DGCS. A helpline is available at 1766.
Members of the diaspora whose registrations to vote overseas were rejected may submit appeals via their embassy or consulate.
The preliminary voter list contains the names of all voters collected during Lebanon’s annual passive voter registration process, when eligible electors are automatically located and added to the voter rolls. This system is unlike an active voter registration process, the one used for the recently completed diaspora registration, where individuals have to apply to be added to the overseas voter rolls in their countries of residence.
By law the voter list was frozen on March 30 of this year. The electoral list published today includes all of the names gathered up to that date, in addition to the names of citizens who will reach 21 years of age by the date of the upcoming election. A ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether the March 27 or May 8 date was used for this tabulation.
In accordance with the electoral law, December 15 was the deadline to publish the list and transmit copies to municipalities, mokhtars, and governorates. In a statement, civil status director-general Elias Khoury hailed the publication as “an essential and major step for holding the parliamentary elections.”
An earlier version of this article stated that 'By law the voter list was frozen on March 30 of last year'. The closing date was March 30, 2021.
These numbers could change, however, as diaspora...