A Lebanese citizen votes during the 2018 parliamentary elections. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met with Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar in Ain al-Tineh to discuss preparations for the upcoming May 2026 parliamentary elections, which are "proceeding on schedule," Hajjar said, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday.
The upcoming elections are a cause of controversy since several political parties have proposed an amendment to the current electoral law that would allow Lebanese abroad to vote for all 128 parliamentary seats, a proposal Berri refuses to put on the agenda.
Hajjar said that the Interior Ministry is “preparing for the May 2026 elections. As his excellency the speaker [Nabih Berri], the president of the republic [Joseph Aoun], the prime minister [Nawaf Salam], and I have repeatedly emphasized, we are undertaking all necessary preparations to ensure they are held on schedule, God willing.”
The current law provides for six seats reserved for expatriates, but the necessary executive measures to implement that provision have never been adopted. Opponents of amending the law include Hezbollah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement. Supporters, including the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb, accuse their rivals of fearing the results of the expatriate vote.
Hajjar also said that he and Berri also “discussed a number of issues, notably the Cabinet decision issued yesterday regarding the completion of the first phase of implementing the Lebanese Army’s plan south of the Litani River, the evaluation phase, and the commitment to continue with the remaining phases.”
After a Thursday Cabinet meeting in the Baabda Presidential Palace, where Army Commander Rodolph Haykal presented the results of the plan’s first phase, the ministers instructed the military to submit, within a month, the next steps for the region between the Litani and Awali rivers. The second phase of the arms monopoly plan is set to begin in February.
