25 Candidates Submit Nominations for Parliamentary Polls

Only twenty-five names submitted their nominations to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections since Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced the opening of the door of candidacies last week, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that those who wish to run in the elections must submit their candidacies before September 16.

The report said that the interior ministry will witness on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday intense movement as all parliamentary blocs are expected to cast their nominations.

Media reports said that the Progressive Socialist Party and the March 14 MPs will submit their nominations, while Speaker Nabih Berri and his Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc submitted their candidacies for the polls last week.

Differences loomed to the surface between the March 14 coalition over holding the polls in light of the vacuum in the presidency.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 25 when Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended amid differences between the rival parliamentary blocs on a compromise candidate.

Last year, the rival MPs extended their tenure until November 2014 after they failed to agree on a new electoral draft-law.

Mashnouq issued a memo last week detailing the documents needed for those seeking to run in the elections on November 16.

The memo was based on a decree that he issued last month, calling on the electoral bodies to elect lawmakers based on the current 1960 electoral law, which was adopted during the 2009 elections.

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