The Maronite League confirmed that it had previously stressed repeatedly that “the non-resident Lebanese must be involved in the upcoming parliamentary elections, which must take place on time.”

It considered, in a statement, that “the lack of their participation in the exercise of this constitutional right is a reason to nullify the entire elections due to a fundamental defect in the composition of the electoral college.”

It explained that “Article 3 of Law No. 44/2017 established a general principle that the right to vote is a right for every Lebanese, whether resident or non-resident on Lebanese territory, and therefore the electoral college is composed of Lebanese residing on Lebanese territory and non-residents alike. This composition cannot be tampered with because it is related to the general electoral system.”

It added: “In implementation of Article 3, Article 113 of the Parliamentary Elections Law requires the government to set rules for the registration of non-residents in embassies within a deadline that ends on the 20th of November of the year preceding the elections’’.

“Therefore, we stress that the government must take all administrative measures that secure the participation of non-residents in the elections, and we warn against holding these elections without allowing them to vote where they are, because this may expose the entire elections to be invalid, and will give the pretext for the international community and our expatriates not to help Lebanon to recover from its crises. “.