A demonstration that took place in Paris in parallel to the popular uprising in Lebanon in October 2019. (Credit: AFP)
Lebanon is swept up in a heated debate: in the 2026 legislative elections, should the diaspora vote in their ancestral villages, regardless of when they last stepped foot there, or have their votes relegated to six specially designated MPs — one per continent, so the idea goes — whose sole purpose is to represent Lebanese abroad? A petition launched by “members of the diaspora” calling for the law to allow them to vote like residents has accumulated 4,000-some signatures — a whisper compared to the estimated millions in the diaspora, from which, in 2022, voters abroad made up six percent of the total electorate, determining the fate of around seven of a total 128 MPs. While that election was riding on the tails of the 2019 thawra (revolution), the 2026 legislative elections are poised to be similarly energized, following significant...
Lebanon is swept up in a heated debate: in the 2026 legislative elections, should the diaspora vote in their ancestral villages, regardless of when they last stepped foot there, or have their votes relegated to six specially designated MPs — one per continent, so the idea goes — whose sole purpose is to represent Lebanese abroad? A petition launched by “members of the diaspora” calling for the law to allow them to vote like residents has accumulated 4,000-some signatures — a whisper compared to the estimated millions in the diaspora, from which, in 2022, voters abroad made up six percent of the total electorate, determining the fate of around seven of a total 128 MPs. While that election was riding on the tails of the 2019 thawra (revolution), the 2026 legislative elections are poised to be similarly energized, following...
