Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has launched a vehement verbal attack on the Lebanese Forces and its leader Samir Geagea, during an electoral rally in the Keserwan-Jbeil district.

“I’ve heard them repeatedly saying that those who vote for the FPM would be voting for Hizbullah, what a joke! In turn I tell you that those who vote for the LF would be voting for Daesh and for Israel and its regional allies,” Bassil charged.

President Michel Aoun on Friday lamented that “some of the money that is being paid in the electoral juncture is coming from abroad,” adding that he is “betting on voters’ awareness and their rejection of being commodities that can be bought and sold.”

“There are candidates who are exploiting the difficult economic and social circumstances and paying money to appropriate the choice of voters, which should be free of any restraints,” Aoun told a delegation from the European observer mission that will monitor Sunday’s elections.

Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community is gearing up for Sunday's parliamentary polls without strong leadership for the first time in decades after former premier Saad Hariri stepped down from political life.

In households across Lebanon, it's likely that one or more family members are planning to emigrate -- if they can get a passport. Demand is high but the bankrupt government has not paid the company contracted to issue or renew the documents.

Lebanese spend their days at the banks, waiting to see what meager amounts they will be allowed to withdraw for the month. They install batteries and solar panels at great cost so their family can survive the humid summer months without electricity from the grid.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Thursday warned that boycotting elections would be “surrender,” while stressing that Lebanon should not be “surrendered” to the “enemies of Arabism.”

“The upcoming parliamentary elections are an important juncture in Lebanon’s history and we have given our directions and instructions to our Lebanese sons and brothers to take part and not to boycott,” Daryan said in a meeting at Dar al-Fatwa with the Saudi, Kuwaiti and Qatari ambassadors.

Cabinet has approved in a session Thursday to renew the expired passports for voters in the parliamentary elections.

The passports will be renewed for one day, only to be used for voting on May 15. The renewal cost will be LBP 200,000 for each passport.

The official unemployment rate in crisis-hit Lebanon jumped almost three-fold to reach 29.6 percent at the start of the year, a joint survey by the U.N. and the government said Thursday.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari met Thursday at Dar al-Fatwa in Beirut with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, the country’s top Sunni Muslim cleric.

During the meeting, Bukhari expressed “the firm solidarity of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with the Lebanese people, and our permanent keenness on Lebanon’s security, stability, territorial integrity, Arab belonging and independent political decision.”

The U.N. Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is concerned about the prolonged pre-trial detention, overcrowding and “deplorable living conditions in places of deprivation of liberty” that it observed during its second visit to Lebanon, a U.N. statement said.

The third phase of parliamentary elections, dedicated to the public employees who will oversee Sunday's polls, kicked off Thursday across Lebanon.

The Lebanese had voted abroad in 58 countries on Friday and Sunday, with a 60 percent turnout.