Ballots in limbo: Lebanon’s draft law opens overseas voting, but will parliament approve it?

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

The government-approved draft law to amend Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, passed Thursday by 17 ministers, is unlikely to pass in parliament due to ongoing political tensions in the country.

The draft law allows Lebanese living abroad to vote based on their residency, as they did in 2022, for the election of 128 deputies according to their respective electoral districts in Lebanon. As a result, Article 112 of the elections law—which provided for a 16th district to elect six deputies representing Lebanese abroad—has been suspended, and the registration deadline for expatriates has been extended to December 31.

The law goes against the preferences of the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, but was backed by all other parties in the government.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri is expected to respond to this political move, potentially delaying the law’s approval by referring it to parliamentary committees or a subcommittee reviewing multiple proposals related to elections. It should be noted that parliament cannot alter the expedited status of government-submitted bills.

This anticipated political objection by Berri aligns with the concerns of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement over weapons control, forming part of a broader political strategy that uses elections as leverage. 

The "political duo" is expected to wait for either an internal settlement or external intervention, possibly from the U.S. or Saudi Arabia, that could lead to a political agreement allowing elections to proceed on schedule with participation from Lebanese abroad.

The draft law also introduces the use of a so-called “megacenter” system and QR codes, seen by the government and some political actors as a way to protect voters from undue pressure at their registration sites. However, this measure may not be acceptable to Hezbollah and the Amal Movement at present.