Mansour says Foreign Ministry completed election draft for expats

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told Voice of Lebanon that his ministry has completed a draft law that would allow Lebanese expatriates living abroad to cast their ballots in the countries they reside in.         

The minister indicated that there is one million registered Lebanese in all the Lebanese embassies abroad.                

"But irrespective of the number of the Lebanese expatriates who will vote in the next parliamentary elections in 2013, this step will represent a quantum leap and an important landmark in Lebanese political life," Mansour said.              

The minister believes that the number of Lebanese expatriates who want to vote will probably exceed the one million mark before the end of this year.                  

Mansour revealed that the Finance Ministry will beef up the number of staff at the Lebanese embassies before the elections to handle the flow of voters.                      

Mansour stressed that the issue of alleged involvement of the Syrian intelligence in the spate of assassinations and bombings in Lebanon has been referred to the judicial authorities.