Lebanese citizens who fled Ukraine were welcomed at Beirut airport on March 2, 2022 at 4 a.m. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Lebanese who registered to vote in Ukraine can also head to the polls on Sunday if they are present in Lebanon.
Late last year, 341 Lebanese registered to vote in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections from Ukraine, but polling in the country was canceled by decree in March “in view of the compelling circumstances related to the state of war in the State of Ukraine and the subsequent eviction of the Lebanese residing there, which leads to the impossibility of conducting the voting process” there.
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry confirmed that these voters have the right to vote in Lebanon on Sunday.
A statement reported in Annahar by a group of Lebanese residents of Ukraine last week expressed disappointment in the “failure to find a solution that would allow hundreds of Lebanese who were displaced from Ukraine to Europe to participate in the elections” in the other European countries where many have sought refuge.
The diaspora formerly registered in Ukraine spans the country, with voters in every district. The districts with the largest number of voters who were formerly registered to Ukraine are Bekaa III and South III.
In general, individuals who registered to vote overseas cannot vote on Sunday, even if they did not cast ballots during diaspora elections on May 6 and 8, because their names are no longer on the local voter lists for the election.