Thousands of Lebanese expats cast on Friday their votes in 6 Arab states for the first time in the history of parliamentary elections, based on a new proportional representation law allowing some 82,000 registered expatriates to vote in 39 countries.
A second phase of voting will be held on Sunday in 33 countries, in addition to the island of Guadeloupe.
The voting begins at midnight on Saturday-Sunday in Australia and ends at 8:00 am Monday, Lebanon time, after the closing of the ballot boxes at 10:00 pm on the West Coast of the United States.
By 6:00 pm on Friday, more than 6,000 out of 12,611 registered Lebanese expatriates had voted in six Arab countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman.
About 70,000 Lebanese are registered to vote on Sunday in other countries.
The voter turnout of the Lebanese expats in Arab countries reached some 54.4 percent, with the highest attendance scored in Muscat (70 percent), the National News Agency correspondent reported on Friday.
On Friday, during an inspection tour at the Foreign Ministry in Beirut to closely follow up on the expats' vote, President Michel Aoun said: "I believe that what happened today is honorable, and I congratulate those who worked on giving the expatriates their voice.”
In the May 6 polls, 917 candidates are running on 77 lists.
For his part, Lebanese Forces party leader Samir Geagea said: "We are proud of the expat vote. It is the fruit of a 10-year struggle.”
Dozens of local and foreign media outlets covered the Election Day on Friday from the Foreign Ministry in Beirut and the 6 Arab countries where Lebanese cast their votes.
Omar Kabboul, the executive director of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), told Ashraq Al-Awsat on Friday that some violations were registered during the voting process.
Kabboul said the most important violations were committed by local media outlets that did not stop the electoral publicity 43 hours before the start of elections on Friday.
