On Monday, the Interior Ministry Director, Hadi Hashem, announced that “the overall vote rate has reached about 60 percent worldwide, which is very good.”
During a press conference, he issued that this year’s parliamentary elections are “the largest logistical operation in Lebanon’s modern history,” and that they “are continuing to work to ensure the arrival and reception of funds.”
He noted that the highest voter turnout was in Syria with 84%.
UAE had also one of the highest reported turnouts, recording over 71%. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affair, the turnout in the UAE is “high enough to change the results of several districts.”
In regards to the process and the problems that arose in some polling centers in the diaspora, Hashem said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is now working to address violations in a timely manner in order to preserve the transparency of the electoral process, “which has been praised by all, primarily the European Union.”
He explained that some Lebanese abroad and some of the employees in the polling stations do not know the electoral law, which has caused some problems, but “overall participation has been good and the electoral process abroad has been successful.”
However, despite the large participation witnessed in North America, the state-run NNA reported a total voter turnout of 5,556 voters or 10.02%, and 540 voters or 9.67% in Latin America.
As for Australia, the Lebanese Foreign Minister said that 55% of the 20,661 registered voters voted.
