The government is set to review a ministerial committee report on electoral law amendments, including a recommendation to cancel six parliamentary seats reserved for expatriates, citing ambiguities in the law and the need for legislative clarification.

The report, prepared by the committee tasked with reviewing election regulations, highlights Article 122, which allocates only six seats for non-resident Lebanese, increasing the total number of deputies to 134 in the first cycle of implementation before reducing it to 128 in the subsequent cycle. Confusion has arisen over which electoral cycle should be considered the “first,” as a 2011 law partially applied the provisions of the 2008 law, the report said.

The law also leaves unclear how seats should be distributed across continents and which expatriates are eligible to run for office, delegating details to government decrees. Seats are assigned by sect — Maronite, Orthodox, Catholic, Sunni, Shiite, and Druze — but the geographic allocation remains undefined, raising questions about eligibility criteria, voter registration, and voting procedures abroad.

The committee also criticized gaps in Article 118, which mandates proportional representation for expatriate voters in a single district, noting a lack of clarity on implementation, candidacy requirements, and oversight mechanisms outside Lebanon. Rules on campaign organization, financial transparency, and monitoring of election expenditures abroad are also missing.

The report emphasizes that Articles 122, 123, and 124 do not empower the government to amend the law or resolve contradictions, limiting its role to “defining the details of law implementation.” It also warns that requiring a two-thirds majority in the Cabinet for electoral decisions could delay reforms and elections if not achieved.

Regarding the proposed magnetic ID card for voting, the Ministry of Interior said it cannot be issued in time for the 2026 elections due to logistical limitations. As an alternative, voters could use a QR code at special polling centers, effectively replacing the physical card stipulated in the law.

The committee recommended that the Council of Ministers decide whether to suspend or cancel the six expatriate seats or address legislative gaps through a new law. It concluded that current arrangements for expatriate voting and the ID card system require legal amendments, not just administrative decrees, to address significant legal loopholes.