Lebanese President Michel Aoun. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun announced in a tweet on Wednesday that he has signed a decree which effectively schedules parliamentary elections for May 15, 2022.
Here’s what we know:
• The decree was also signed by Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Now, with Aoun’s signature, the decision is official.
• The decree also schedules the voting date for Lebanese expatriates for Friday, May 6, or Sunday, May 8 in countries where May 6 is a holiday. Additionally, employees who are managing the elections are scheduled to vote on May 12.
• The decree comes after Parliament approved amendments to the electoral law that allows elections to take place on March 27 rather than their original date on May 8, in order to avoid campaigning during Ramadan when some Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Parliament also recommended that elections take place on March 27.
• The Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by President Michel Aoun, has opposed the rescheduling of elections and argued that inclement weather may affect turnout at the polls and that the proposed dates would exclude many new voters who would not have reached the legal age to vote. Aoun has reiterated that he would not sign a decree that moves the elections to March.
• Whether or not elections will take place was a matter of discussion in the political scene, as some suspect the current political establishment has no interest in holding a vote after losing a great deal of its prestige and popularity in the October 17 nationwide protest movement and subsequent unprecedented economic crisis.
• Parliament has extended its own term three times between the dates of 2009 and 2017.