Number of expats registered to vote surpasses 100,000

BEIRUT — The Interior and Foreign Ministries announced on Tuesday that it has so far recorded 101,355 applications from Lebanese residing abroad to register for voting in the May 2026 parliamentary elections.

In a joint statement, the ministries specified that 65,250 of these requests have already been transferred to the Interior Ministry, where they are "currently being verified." The two ministries urged Lebanese expats to "register quickly" before the Nov. 20 deadline, "to ensure their participation in the ballot."

Prospective voters wishing to register online can do so at: https://diasporavote.mfa.gov.lb.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Joe Rajji said that he considered the current number of diaspora voters registered for the 2026 election "acceptable," though he wished it were "higher."

On Monday, President Joseph Aoun signed a decree sending a draft amendment to the electoral law to Parliament, mainly concerning the voting procedure for Lebanese expats. Given double urgency status, this draft law is expected to be considered immediately by the Chamber, without first going through parliamentary committees.

Approved by Cabinet on Nov. 6, the proposal calls in particular for the suspension of Article 112 of the electoral law (44/2017), to allow Lebanese abroad to vote for candidates running in all 128 mainland constituencies, instead of limiting their choice to six seats designated specifically to represent the Lebanese diaspora, as per the current — but as of yet, unimplemented — law.

The bill further proposes to extend the expatriate registration deadline to Dec. 31 to expand participation in the elections. Under the current law, this deadline is set to expire at midnight Thursday, Nov. 20 (Beirut time). The question now is whether the Parliament will be able to hold a plenary vote on the bill before Thursday.

The issue of how the Lebanese diaspora — which far outnumbers Lebanese residing in the homeland — will vote in upcoming elections has cause deep divides and resulted in the shut down of several Parliament meetings in recent months, as MPs opposing the six-seat approach boycott meetings where Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has refused to place the law debate on the agenda.

Hezbollah and Amal are opposed to having Lebanese expats votes in their ancestral villages, for all 128 MPs, siting their part's labeling as a terrorist organization in several countries where significant Lebanese populations live, limiting their freedom to participate. On the other hand, the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, their allies, as well as the Progressive Socialist Party are advocating for the diaspora's representation not to be contained to only six seats.

On Tuesday, the Kataeb party issued a statement emphasizing "the need to list the draft law on expatriate voting on the plenary agenda, to enable Lebanese abroad to exercise their constitutional right to vote."

The party stressed that "any deliberate delay in putting the bill to a vote amounts to confiscating the will of a large segment of Lebanese," reiterating that "Parliament is a representative legislative body, and its president does not have the right to withhold bills or proposals for political, partisan, or circumstantial reasons, as doing so would violate the Constitution."