A woman showing her inked thumb after voting in the municipal elections in Mount Lebanon, on May 4, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today.)
On the first day of the municipal elections, which are taking place Sunday in the Mohafazat of Mount Lebanon, the leader of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea called on voters to vote "massively," praising the authorities' work in organizing the polls.
In a statement, Geagea stated that the organization of the municipal elections is "one of the indicators that Lebanon has entered a new phase." He congratulated Nawaf Salam's government "for its determination" to organize the election and for the preparations accomplished. Addressing the voters of Mount Lebanon, he called on them to participate "massively" in the vote.
"This election can, if citizens vote wisely, contribute to improving, developing, and modernizing their localities," particularly concerning their development and quality of life, he added.
He further expressed hope that the municipal elections would be "a true democratic celebration" and that "the competition would not be used to settle scores but to improve work within cities and villages."
The voters from the six cazas of Mount Lebanon (Jbeil, Keserwan, Baabda, Metn, Aley, and Chouf) are being called to vote this Sunday to elect new municipal councils, in place since 2016 and whose terms have been extended three times since 2022.
About 333 municipal councils are to be elected, and tens of thousands of voters are being called to vote, as well as for the election of mokhtars, responsible for citizens' civil affairs. The polls will continue in North Lebanon next Sunday, May 11, then in the Bekaa and Beirut on the 18th, before concluding on Saturday, May 24 in South Lebanon, where many villages have been devastated by the war between Hezbollah and Israel.