Preparations for Lebanese emigrants voting from abroad are underway as President Michel Aoun is set to deliver a statement Wednesday evening urging Lebanese expats for massive participation in the country’s general elections, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s parliamentary elections will be held on May 6, but Lebanese expats will be voting from April 27 to 29.
Aoun will address Lebanese expats through media outlets and will emphasize the importance of participation in the electoral process under the new electoral law, said the daily.
Circles monitoring the general situation said Aoun’s expected address “raises questions”, amid concerns the appearance could be serving the electoral campaign of his son-in-law and parliamentary candidate Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.
“The president's step is evidently the core of his duties, but it raises more than a question mark in these circumstances, especially since his son-in-law, the foreign minister, had toured the expatriates in a number of countries to urge them to participate in the elections,” the sources told the daily.
Lebanon will hold its first general elections in nine years on the basis of a complex proportional representation system replacing the majoritarian winner-takes-all system.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/245340-report-aoun-to-address-expats-...
