Report: Paris mulls mediation over electoral law

Paris is contemplating whether to mediate between the rival Lebanese parties in order to end the deadlock over the electoral law under which the 2026 parliamentary polls will be held, parliamentary sources said.

France would seek a suspension of the clause on introducing six seats that represent Lebanese expats while the parliamentary majority would give up its demand for the omission of Article 112, which would allow expats to vote abroad for the current 128 seats, the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stressed Friday that the May 2026 elections will be held on time.

Berri added that “the remaining time does not allow for any amendment” of the electoral law, hinting that expats are supposed to vote for six newly-introduced seats and not the current 128 seats.

The Speaker also wondered “how those who were with the current electoral law and had defended it in the past are trying to object against it today.”

Expats had voted heavily in favor of the opposition, especially the so-called Change candidates, during the 2018 and 2022 parliamentary elections. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement argue that they do not enjoy the same campaigning freedom that the other parties enjoy abroad and have thus deemed the six newly-introduced seats as the lesser of two evils.

It is still unclear how the voting for the six seats will take place seeing as there is no clear mechanism distributing the seats on sects and continents. That can be resolved through executive decrees issued by the government or an amendment of the electoral law by parliament.

The Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party and some Change and independent MPs are meanwhile calling for allowing expats to vote for the current 128 seats as happened in the 2018 and 2022 elections. The law had been amended back then to allow for the postponement of the introduction of the six new seats until 2026.