The leader of the CPL at Bkirki alongside the Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Rai. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT —FPM leader Gebran Bassil on Friday expressed concern over low voter registration among Lebanese abroad ahead of the May 2026 parliamentary elections, warning of a potential plot targeting expatriate voting rights.
"The rate of expatriate registration has dropped by 40 percent, which indicates a loss of confidence in the measures taken by the authorities. However, 152,000 expatriates registered knowing that their action was based on current law and that the government is now in a position where it must take measures to implement the law," stressed Bassil, speaking from Bkirki, where he was received by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai.
According to the Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministries, the number of registered overseas voters totals exactly 151,985. Authorities are conducting the necessary checks to compare names with the electoral lists.
The expatriate vote is the subject of an intense tug-of-war between various political camps. Article 112 of the current legislation limits their vote to only six seats.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri categorically refuses to put on the agenda of any plenary session an amendment to the electoral law demanded by several parties.
Amal and Hezbollah, along with their former ally, the FPM led by Bassil, are indeed opposed to expanding the expatriate vote, while on the other side, the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb and their anti-Hezbollah allies, as well as the Progressive Socialist Party, are campaigning for Lebanese abroad to have the right to vote for all 128 MPs in Parliament.
After a petition was filed by anti-Hezbollah forces urging the Speaker to open the floor for debate on the government's bill, President Joseph Aoun signed a decree Monday transmitting a draft law to Parliament aimed at amending the electoral law, in particular regarding expatriate voting procedures.
With urgent status, this bill should be immediately examined by Parliament, without passing through the parliamentary committees.
Approved by the Cabinet on Nov. 6, the bill provides in particular for the suspension of Article 112 of the electoral law (44/2017) to allow Lebanese living abroad to vote for candidates running in all 128 districts of the home country, instead of limiting their choice to six seats as stipulated by the current law.
The text also proposes postponing the registration deadline for expatriates wishing to vote to Dec. 31. Under the law currently in force, this deadline expired Thursday, Nov. 20 at midnight (Beirut time).
In this context, Bassil has expressed fears of a compromise or "plot" to eliminate the entire section of the law regarding expatriate voting. "The greatest fear is a compromise or a plot aiming to suppress the entire expatriate section, in order to return us to the situation before the adoption of the law and wipe out this strategic achievement without knowing if another opportunity will arise."
The FPM leader considers the electoral law to be "a great national and Christian achievement that allowed correcting the representation, which had been greatly imbalanced in previous years."
"We corrected this imbalance by involving expatriates in areas where they have significant national and Christian weight; but today we see that this success is being compromised," he stressed.
"Expatriates must not lose their rights. We passed the law and gave expatriates the right to choose to elect their representatives inside or outside the country," he insisted, reaffirming his determination to continue fighting to make his voice heard.
