Bassil denounces a 'conspiracy against the right to vote' for expats

BEIRUT — With only a few hours left for the Lebanese diaspora to register on the electoral rolls for the May 2026 parliamentary elections, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM, Aounist), MP Gebran Bassil, on Wednesday denounced a "conspiracy" and a "plot" aimed at "eliminating" the right for expatriates to vote.

"I am addressing you because I share your confusion about whether or not you should register for the upcoming elections, or whether or not you will be able to vote. I am saddened to see how the authorities, made up of all parliamentary groups except for the Strong Lebanon Bloc (Aounist), are conspiring against your right to vote in order to eliminate it and refuse to apply the law," Bassil said.

A former foreign minister and MP for Batroun, Bassil recalled that he had guaranteed expatriates "the right to vote from abroad, as well as the right to representation and candidacy."

He accused current authorities of wanting to "eliminate these electoral rights," emphasizing that the number of registrations had dropped "due to a lack of trust in the government and the electoral process."

Bassil urged members of the diaspora to "not lose faith in Lebanon," stating that "this phase is temporary, this regime will fade away, and this ministry will not last due to its lack of prestige and respect."

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He invited expatriates who cannot travel to Lebanon to vote, as well as those wishing to elect diaspora MPs, "to register before the Nov. 20 deadline to safeguard their right to vote." Registration can be done either online or at a consulate.

In conclusion, the FPM leader assured: "Even if the plot to eliminate your rights succeeds, you will still be able to vote. Your vote is your right; we have done everything necessary to preserve it and we will continue to work to guarantee you additional rights."

On Monday, President Joseph Aoun signed a decree transmitting to Parliament a bill aimed at amending the electoral law, notably concerning voting arrangements for expatriates.

Marked as urgent on two counts, the bill is supposed to be submitted immediately to the Chamber for consideration, without passing through parliamentary committees.

Approved by Cabinet on Nov. 6, it notably provides for the suspension of Article 112 of the electoral law (44/2017) to allow Lebanese abroad to vote for candidates running in all 128 constituencies of the home country, instead of limiting their choice to six seats as stipulated by the article.

Additionally, the text proposes to postpone the deadline for expatriate registrations to December 31 to allow participation in the vote.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri categorically refuses to add an amendment to the electoral law to the agenda of any plenary session. His camp (Amal–Hezbollah) opposes expanding expatriate voting rights, while on the other side, the Lebanese Forces (LF), Kataeb, their anti-Hezbollah allies, and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) advocate for the diaspora to have the right to vote for the entire parliament.

Call for a plenary session

On Wednesday, several anti-Hezbollah lawmakers, who prepared a petition urging Berri to hold a plenary session to vote on the Cabinet's bill, emphasized that "parliamentary elections must take place next May, calling it a constitutional obligation that cannot be delayed."

According to a text obtained by L’Orient-le Jour, organizing elections is the government's "exclusive" responsibility, and the Cabinet has said it is impossible to hold the vote under the current law.

The statement also notes that Cabinet has already sent the Chamber a bill marked as urgent to amend the electoral law, adopted with the majority of the government's members.

In their Wednesday statement, the MPs called for the urgent government bill to be immediately added to the plenary session agenda, highlighting that it is a text "directly linked to the organization of the electoral process, particularly with regard to the voting rights of non-resident Lebanese."

They warned that any delay in presenting, discussing, or voting on the bill, while the expatriate registration deadline expires on Nov. 20, "constitutes a direct threat to the right of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese abroad to participate in elections."

They said that "referring the bill to committees at this stage, or not prioritizing it in the plenary session, would in practice paralyze the electoral process." The lawmakers finally called on Lebanese in the diaspora to "register quickly to vote from abroad before the current deadline," reminding them that "your participation is essential to protecting democracy and ensuring transparency and fairness in the election."

On Tuesday, the Interior and Foreign Affairs ministries announced that 101,355 registration requests from Lebanese residing abroad for the May 2026 legislative elections had been recorded so far on the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s electronic platform.