Lebanon’s municipal elections cost $8 million: Could electronic voting be the solution?

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Lebanon’s ongoing municipal elections are costing $8 million, according to Information International.

That figure covers everything from poll worker payments and ink supplies to transporting election materials across the country.

But the real cost goes beyond the state budget. It includes the strain on citizens who wait in long lines, the fatigue of security forces and health workers mobilized for the event, and even the journalists covering it.

The current election process in Lebanon involves a full day of logistics, pressure at polling stations, and campaign workers handing out lists, causing stress and long waits for voters.

A streamlined alternative would allow voters to cast their ballots from home, eliminating lines, reducing stress, and preventing outside interference.

That’s what electronic voting offers—already implemented in Brazil, Estonia, India, and the Philippines. These nations have saved millions of dollars and reduced chaos at the polls.

In Lebanon, there’s at least some movement in that direction. The National Liberal Party has developed a prototype for a mobile voting app that costs just $85,000—about 1% of the current municipal election budget. 

However, questions remain about how secure such a system would be.
Still, the project offers a glimpse of what’s possible. But real progress depends on political will—something Lebanon’s leaders have often lacked.

Instead, the country keeps circling the same excuses: cybersecurity concerns, unreliable electricity, weak internet infrastructure—and perhaps most importantly, politicians uneasy with the idea of clean, transparent elections run by technology.