FPM Clings to Expat Voting, Urges Cooperation with Port Probe

The Free Patriotic Movement on Saturday stressed the importance of preserving the right of expats to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections, while calling for cooperation with Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the catastrophic Beirut port blast.

“The government’s formation gave the Lebanese hope that the country has entered a phase of relative stability and a halt of the collapse,” the FPM’s political committee said in a statement issued after a periodic e-meeting chaired by FPM chief MP Jebran Bassil.

“As for revival and confidence restoration, they require that the government shoulder its responsibilities by devising and implementing a financial recovery plan and conducting reforms,” the committee added.

Commenting on reports that authorities intend to scrap expat voting and expat seats, the committee stressed that “the right of expats to voting and representation at their place of residence” should be preserved, as well as “their right to elect six MPs who represent them.”

In an apparent swipe at the Lebanese Forces and fugitive pro-LF businessman Ibrahim al-Sakr, the FPM’s political committee called on the judiciary and security forces to “carry out their duties by pursuing the fugitives who are accused of smuggling and storing fuel and ammonium nitrate.”

It also stressed that the judicial council must “continue its serious investigation into the Beirut port blast case, to identify those who brought in the nitrates, those who used them and those responsible for the explosion,” calling on all those summoned by Judge Bitar to “put themselves at the disposal of the investigation.”