Report: Applications for Parliamentary Elections Now Open

Prospective candidates planning to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections shall start submitting their applications Monday signaling the opening for the May 6, 2018 polls, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

Everyone is waiting for political parties and major blocs to submit their nominations on the first day, but the process will reportedly be limited to individual candidates, who are still seeking alliances, or perhaps some independent MPs, added the daily.

Interior Ministry sources told al-Joumhouria: “The ministry has completed logistical preparations and is anxiously waiting for the first day of nominations.”

Lebanon's first parliamentary elections in nine years are scheduled for May 6.

For the first time, Lebanese nationals living overseas will be able to cast ballots in early voting.

The current parliament has postponed elections several times over security reasons. It was elected to a four-year term in 2009, but its tenure has been extended twice over security concerns and the civil war in neighboring Syria that spilled into Lebanon on several occasions.