Over 33,000 registration requests from Lebanese expatriates for 2026 parliamentary elections

The Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministries announced that 33,390 Lebanese residing abroad have so far submitted applications to register on the electoral rolls for the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for spring 2026.

In a joint statement published Monday, the two ministries specified that 24,822 applications have already been processed and forwarded to the Interior Ministry, where they are currently being reviewed and compared with the electoral registers.

The authorities also remind that the expatriate voter registration period will end on Friday, Nov. 20, and urge Lebanese living abroad to register before that date.

Expatriate voting has been the subject of deep disagreements among various political forces for several months.

In mid-October, Foreign Minister Joe Rajji introduced a bill to amend the electoral law so that Lebanese abroad can vote for all 128 members of Parliament, not just six, as favored by the Amal-Hezbollah alliance and the Free Patriotic Movement.

With no prospect of resolving this dispute, several parties have discussed a possible postponement of the vote.

Some members of Parliament have already submitted proposals to hold the elections in July or August 2026 (instead of May).

However, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have ruled out any extension of the current legislature.

The specter of a large-scale new Israeli war against Hezbollah in Lebanon still threatens the holding of the vote, as U.S. envoy Tom Barrack recently noted.