Lebanese expatriates are voting Friday May 6 and Sunday May 8 for the legislative elections to be held on May 15 in their country, two years after the start of an unprecedented economic crisis that triggered a mass exodus.

More than 225,000 Lebanese residing abroad are registered to vote, a sharp increase from 2018, when 92,000 of them were registered - with only 50,000 ultimately turning out to vote.

The vote is held on Friday for Lebanese expats living in countries where this day is not worked - such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt or Qatar - and Sunday for those living in Europe, the United States , Canada, Australia and Asia.

205 polling stations installed around the world 

In total, more than 205 polling stations have been set up around the world, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.

At the end of the ballot, the ballot boxes will be sent to the Central Bank of Lebanon and the votes counted after the elections are held in the country on May 15.

This is the second time in the country's history that Lebanese abroad have the right to vote to renew the 128 deputies of the Chamber.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on them on Thursday "not to be complacent and to vote in large numbers".

These are the first elections since the popular uprising which, in October 2019, led thousands of Lebanese to the streets to demand the departure of a political class accused of corruption and incompetence.

The unprecedented economic crisis that Lebanon is going through, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic and the deadly explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020, has exhausted this movement.

Many middle-class Lebanese have since left the country in search of a better future.

Opposition candidates hope that the diaspora will vote for the change of the political class.

In 2018, only 6% of foreign voters chose independent candidates, according to a recent report by the Paris-based Arab Reform Initiative think tank.

With AFP

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