elections.gov.lb Expatriate Voting : Lebanon

Organisation : Elections Saskatchewan
Facility : Expatriate Voting
Country : Lebanon

Expatriate Voting : http://elections.gov.lb/Home.aspx
Home page : http://www.elections.gov.lb/default.aspx?lang=en-us

Expatriate Voting :

Articles from Law no. 25 on the Expatriate Voting

Related :

Voter Registration Lebanon Elections : www.electionin.org/1167.html

Article 104 :
All Lebanese natives living outside the Lebanese territory shall be entitled to vote in Lebanese embassies and consulates pursuant to the provisions of this law, provided that their name is registered on the voters’ rolls and no legal reason prevents their right to vote.

Article 105 :
The voting of non-resident Lebanese natives shall be governed by the general provisions on the voting of resident Lebanese citizens, in conformity with this chapter’s provisions.

Article 106 :
** Upon the ratification of this law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants shall invite, via Lebanese embassies and consulates, by the means it deems appropriate, all the Lebanese non-resident natives fulfilling the above mentioned conditions, to voice their wish to participate in voting from their country of residence. They shall proceed by registering their names either personally or by a duly registered letter submitted to the embassy or consulate of their choice, including all the relevant information on their identity and register number.
** The timeframe for registration shall not exceed the 31st of December of every year preceding the parliamentary elections.
** After this date, the non-resident Lebanese natives’ right to vote in the subsequent parliamentary elections ceases to be valid.

Article 107 :
** The concerned embassies and consulates shall consecutively send at the end of every week, the names of persons registered to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants.
** The competent departments at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities shall verify the registration of those names on the voters’ rolls and shall, after the expiry of the registration timeframe, prepare independent voters’ rolls for each embassy or consulate, including the names of eligible voters, distributed on basis of electoral districts.
** However, the number of registered voters in one electoral district shall not be less than 200 voters.
** A sign shall be put next to their names to prevent them from voting in their original place of residence.

Article 108 :
** The Ministry of Interior and Municipality shall send, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, the independent voters’ rolls to all concerned embassies and consulates.
** Based on the number of eligible voters, the embassies and consulates are supposed to mount one polling station or more (if the voters’ number exceeds 400) within their own premises or in any other adequate location.

Article 109 :
** The ambassador or consul coordinates with the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to form the panel of each polling station.
** The panel shall at least include one head and one clerk selected from the embassy or consulate staff or contractual employees when need be.
** They shall also specify their terms of reference.
** Party agents may be present during the voting, counting of votes and announcement of results.

Article 110 :
** Voting outside Lebanon shall be made ten days at the most before the Election Day in Lebanon, according to the concerned electoral districts, and with the use of opaque sealable envelopes of one type adopted and stamped by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities.
** The ballot boxes shall be open from 7 am to 10 pm.
** The head of the station shall sign the envelope and give it to the voter, after having verified their identity and the presence of their name on the voters’ rolls.
** Voters may vote by presenting their Lebanese ID card or valid Lebanese passport.
** The voter is bound to enter the polling booth and put one paper in the envelope including the names of candidates he/she wishes to elect.
** He/she shall personally drop the envelope in the ballot box.
** A voter’s voting shall be confirmed by his/her signature or fingerprint as well as the signature of one polling station member next to the voter’s name on the voters’ list used in the electoral operation.

Article 111 :
At the end of the voting operation, the ballot box (es) shall be open in the presence of the ambassador or consul. The latter may delegate representatives if any force majeure prevents them from attending. The envelopes and ballots papers are counted and calculated in the presence of the polling station panel.

Article 112 :
** A report on the electoral operation shall be set forth with a detailed description of the number of votes received by each candidate.
** The report shall be signed by the ambassador and consul, and the results shall be posted on the polling station gate.
** After announcing the results as above mentioned, all papers and envelopes shall be burnt down save for ballots considered as “spoilt ballots” for containing identification marks or insults or two confusingly indistinguishable candidate names.

Article 113 :
The polling station head shall put in an envelope: the check lists signed by the voters, the spoilt ballot papers and envelopes thereof, the minutes of the electoral operation and the candidates’ vote count sheet. The envelope shall be sealed with wax and sent to the concerned registration committees in Lebanon via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants by the fastest possible means of communication.

Article 114 :
To guarantee the implementation of the provisions of the present chapter, and the non-resident Lebanese natives’ right to vote in their country of residence after the 2009 universal parliamentary elections, the following procedures shall be taken as of the ratification of the present law
Before every 10th of February, the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities shall send the voters’ rolls on CDs through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to the Lebanese Embassies and Consulates abroad.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants shall circulate and make public the aforementioned rolls by all means possible. It shall invite the voters to check them and ask for correction when need be, before resending them to the Directorate General of Personal Status ahead of every 10th of March. The revisions, rectifications and crossing out of the rolls’ records shall follow the principles and procedures stipulated in chapter four of this law. Communication shall be made via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, who reports to the competent authority.

Within a period of one year after the present law publication, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants shall prepare a detailed study on the voting mechanism of non-resident Lebanese natives in embassies and consulates. The study shall include all technical details related to the human and financial readiness of the said embassies and consulates, in addition to recommendations on their logistic and technical needs, and the implementation timeframes and approximate cost thereof. The study shall be submitted to the Council of Ministers to take appropriate executive measures and secure the needed approbations.