Lebanese MPs and ministers waiting for the start of the parliamentary session in Beirut, Sept. 30, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — For the second consecutive day, disagreements in Parliament over the expat voting law led to Tuesday's Parliamentary session being adjourned for lack of quorum.
Many MPs — particularly from the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb — boycotted the plenary session to pressure for the diaspora voting issue to be added to the agenda for debate.
Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said a “political agreement” might be needed if the deadlock deepens, announcing that the laws adopted the previous day were “frozen” until the agenda is fully addressed.
Monday's session
On Monday, before quorum was lost, MPs had approved an amendment to the law on public-private partnerships and a credit line of 2.35 trillion Lebanese liras (about $26 million) to fund monthly payments of LL 12 million ($134) to retired public sector employees.
Other bills now on hold include an amendment to the monetary code authorizing new banknotes, a draft law on deserters from the Internal Security Forces since the 2019 financial crisis, and exemptions from taxes and fees for those harmed in the Hezbollah-Israel war.
Only 48 MPs were present Tuesday morning, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), falling short of the required quorum. The session was postponed indefinitely.
Both in the lead-up to the session and after its indefinite postponement, MPs held firm to their positions on the 2017 electoral law. Some, including those from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement, want to maintain the law as is, which calls for the addition of six seats designated specially to the Lebanese diaspora, while others, including the Lebanese Forces, are pushing for an amendment allowing expatriates to vote for all of the current 128 seats, based on their districts.
Opposition and LF MPs react
Lebanese Forces bloc leader Georges Adwan welcomed the loss of quorum, saying it proved there was a majority of MPs against delaying the elections. He insisted he does not seek to paralyze Parliament but to put it “back on the right track” and warned, “We will not accept elections being postponed even by a single day.”
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea blamed Berri directly, noting that 67 MPs had submitted an urgent proposal to amend the law but the speaker ignored it.
Opposition MPs Mark Daou and Waddah Sadek also justified their boycott, accusing Berri and parts of Parliament’s bureau of blocking reform and denouncing Bou Saab’s remarks as “threats” and “blackmail.”
From the ranks of those against amending the law, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil condemned the boycott as "aimed at imposing changes to the current law" and as "a systematic process to postpone parliamentary elections."
Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad, for his part, called for a "consensus" on the issue.
Earlier in the day, before the session was ultimately canceled, Berri received Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at Parliament.
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