The Lebanese government has intervened in a row over the voting rights of the country's diaspora and submitted an urgent bill to Parliament that would allow citizens living abroad to vote for all 128 MPs rather than only six.
The move adds to pressure on powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has so far resisted efforts by a majority of MPs to overturn this provision.
The current electoral law allows Lebanese living abroad to cast votes only for a newly created bloc of six MPs, as opposed to all 128 seats. The law was passed in 2017 but the parliamentary election due in May next year is the first in which this provision will be applied.
Detractors say it treats the diaspora as second-class citizens and breaches the policy of equality enshrined in the Lebanese constitution.
In theory, the government's bill to amend the law should be added to the parliament's agenda for debate and a vote, which it is expected to pass. But it is uncertain whether Mr Berri, who supports the law in its current form, will allow that.
One minister observed wryly that there was a difference between “information and expectations”, alluding to the fact that, while the government sent the bill to parliament and Mr Berri should, in principle, add it to the agenda, it does not mean he will.
“We've sent a draft law saying that this election has to be conducted as it has been conducted in 2022 – that is, the diaspora will vote for 128 seats,” the minister told The National.
After a cabinet session on Thursday that approved the bill, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the government had also decided to extend the deadline for the diaspora to vote from November 20 to December 31.
Hezbollah and its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement led by Mr Berri, support the law in its current form. Their four ministers in the government have opposed any amendment, but are in the minority.
Hezbollah has been placed under sanctions by many countries that are home to large parts of the Lebanese diaspora – including in North America, Europe and the Gulf.
Hezbollah spokesman Youssef Zein previously told The National that this means the group is unable to campaign as effectively abroad as its opponents.
“It's a draft bill submitted by the government, it supersedes everything. It should be taken to the vote,” said an official from the Lebanese Forces (LF) party, which supports overturning the law.
One of the party's four members in the cabinet, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, drafted the amendment bill.
“Now we wait for Speaker Berri,” the LF official said. “He may delay this for one week, et cetera, but other than that he cannot do this. And once it reaches the vote, it will have an easy majority because it was proposed by more than 67 MPs initially.”
The dispute over the voting rights of the Lebanese diaspora escalated last week when Parliament was unable to convene after more than half the MPs boycotted the plenary session.
