Report: Parties Getting Ready for Elections, Alliances Taking Form

Political parties are gearing up for Lebanon's legislative elections which spoils rumors about any possible postponement or the introduction of amendments to the electoral law system based on which the elections are going to be staged, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Ministerial sources of the March 8 alliance told the daily: “The entire political parties have started preparing for the elections and forming electoral lists and striking alliances. Talks about postponing the elections or attempts to make some changes have been dropped.”

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said “alliances have started to take shape like the fusion between Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement, and between the Free Patriotic Movement and al-Mustaqbal.”

“Other coalitions will remain pragmatic and subject to circumstances and regions. In fact, only three months separate us from the date of the expatriates' voting on April 22, when the deadline expires with a wink of an eye. We can say from now on, it is the election time,” he added.

Lebanon's elections are scheduled on May 6. Even though the new complex electoral law was approved in July 2017, suggestions to introduce reforms were made four month before the polls due date.

A ministerial panel tasked with studying the implementation of the law failed last week to reach an agreement on so-called polling megacenters where voters can cast ballots away from their hometowns.