On the second day of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, the roar of fighter jets diminished, the smoke of battle faded from the skies, and missile fire ceased. Yet, the consequences of the confrontation continue to reverberate inside Lebanon, this time manifesting through urgent internal challenges, most notably the push to amend the country’s current electoral law. While Lebanon’s government and parliament grapple with longstanding crises through two sessions packed with heavy agendas, a recent Israeli airstrike served as a stark reminder that Lebanon remains entangled in the regional conflict and that Hezbollah continues to be a prime target of Israeli operations, now focusing on its financing networks.

Meanwhile, deliberations within the parliamentary subcommittee tasked with electoral reform are intensifying, with members engaged in detailed and somewhat sterile discussions to prepare for the anticipated amendments. According to informed sources speaking to kataeb.org, Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar has formed a technical committee not to draft a new electoral law from scratch, but rather to introduce specific amendments to the existing legislation before submitting it to parliament.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji took a notable and firm position, explicitly rejecting the proposal to limit expatriate voting rights to only six parliamentary seats—one for each continent. Instead, he called for granting Lebanese expatriates the right to vote for all 128 members of parliament, on equal footing with residents. This stance largely aligns with the government’s broader move to reform the expatriate voting mechanism, effectively closing the debate over the six-seat quota.

Sources within the committee also revealed that the regular Wednesday meeting will not be held next week as usual. A new date is expected to be set later amid mounting momentum toward approving a sweeping amendment that would enable expatriates to vote for the full parliamentary list, rather than being restricted to the exceptional six-seat allocation used in the last election cycle.

While deputies from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have not raised objections to this proposal, the Free Patriotic Movement remains steadfast in its support for limiting expatriate voting to six seats. This signals an early and potentially contentious political battle over the electoral law nearly a year ahead of the parliamentary elections.

Against this backdrop, fears are growing that attempts may be underway to undermine expatriates’ right to full suffrage, opening the door to a deep overhaul of Lebanon’s hybrid electoral law. This issue is poised to become a highly charged political flashpoint in the months to come.

This is the English adaptation of an Arabic article posted on Kataeb.org by Chady Hilani.