Lebanese Diaspora Demands Voting Rights: Foreign Minister Meeting Sparks 2026 Election Push
August 26, 2025
Members of 19 Lebanese Diaspora groups from the USA, Canada, Australia, France, UAE, Saudi Arabia and many other countries joined forces last week to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Mr Youseff Rajji, to escalate their demand to be able to vote for their local representative at the next parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026.
The initiative, brokered by the Global Lebanese Alliance, which is a coalition of autonomous expat groups, aligned under a vision, mission and values for Lebanon, was attended by key representatives of the most active organisations around the world, including TeamHope, Change Lebanon, Lebanese Expatriate Movement, Lebanese Executive Council, World Lebanese Cultural Union, DLO, Rooted, LNA, ONL, Lebnen Ele, The Lebanese Diaspora Network and Kulluna Irada
The representatives reiterated their rejection of restricting Non-Resident voting to only six dedicated seats to be filled by six unknown individuals, which do not reflect the views, wishes or beliefs of the powerful Lebanese diaspora.
They underscored the necessity of enabling expatriates to vote for a candidate from their original place of registration, the removal of legal and logistical obstacles, opening more polling stations in countries where registrations are high, and opening the voter registration window for a longer period to allow expats adequate time to register.
Minister Rajji was responsive to the requests of the diaspora and assigned his Director General to assist in implementing as many of the requests as was legally and logistically possible.
The issue of the 128 v 6 Law that would allow expats to vote for their candidate in their area of registration remains blocked in Parliament, with the Speaker of the House, Mr Nabih Berri, refusing to put it on the agenda for discussion and a vote, despite more than half the Members of Parliament signing a petition requesting the law be discussed and changes approved.
Mr Berri is expected to come under significant pressure from local and external players for thwarting the course of democracy and free and fair elections.
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