Bassil Presents Draft Law Extending Registration Deadline for Lebanese Expats Vote

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday said he submitted a draft law to extend the deadline for Lebanese expats to register their names in order to vote in the country’s' parliamentary elections slated in May 2018.

“I have presented a draft law to the government asking for the extension of the deadline set for Lebanese expats to register for the parliamentary polls,” he said on Twitter.

The Minister said the “previous experiment” was successful and there is still time “plus, tens of Lebanese wish to register and cast their votes. We are ready for that. Anyone wishes to prevent them?” he asked.

In November, Bassil said that more than 85,000 Lebanese expatriates registered to vote from abroad in the elections.

The “first-time mechanism” allows expats to submit the required documents online which are forwarded to the Interior Ministry for validation.