Report: Most Lebanese Expatriates Not Willing to Participate in 2013 Polls
The Foreign Ministry prepared a report concerning the numbers of Lebanese expatriates expected to vote during the 2013 parliamentary elections, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.
The foreign Ministry based its information on reports prepared by more than 70 Lebanese missions around the world on the number of expatriates expected to vote.
According to An Nahar, Lebanon’s political parties are eying the Lebanese in foreign countries in order to mobilize supporters to get a boost in the upcoming elections.
Lebanese officials are exerting efforts in order to formulate an electoral draft law that ensures a sound parliamentary representation of sects.
However, there’s no agreement yet over the issue, as the Maronite leaders agreed on the Orthodox Gathering’s proposals which called for each sect to elect its own MPs based on the proportional representation.
The proposal was rejected by a number of officials including Interior Minister Marwan Charbel who is tasked with preparing the new electoral draft law.
An Nahar said that the foreign ministry’s report includes some “critical” facts as the numbers of Lebanese expatriates willing to elect during the 2013 elections is almost 0 percent, knowing that the deadline for registration is by the end of 2012.
According to the daily, most expatriates in the Arab world might seem unwilling to register in Lebanese missions to vote there as they prefer to return to Lebanon to practice their electoral rights because of the close distance between the countries.
However, those who are in Europe and the U.S. seem reluctant to participate in electing the Lebanese parliament by not registering their names in the missions to be able to vote, they might also find it difficult to return to Lebanon to elect.
Source: Agence France Presse
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