07 May 2022; MEMO: The initial turnout for the Lebanese elections abroad on Friday reached around 36 per cent, seven hours after its launch.
Iran and Syria witnessed the highest percentage of votes, with Egypt coming last.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants announced that, until 14:00 local time (11:00 GMT), 11,268 people out of 30,930 voters (outside the country) voted.
It noted that the overall voter turnout was about 36.43 per cent.
Voting began today at 7:00 am local time (4:00 GMT) and will close at 22:00 local time (19:00 GMT).
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, the voting process has started in ten countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Syria, the Sultanate of Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq and Iran.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry disclosed that this is the first stage of parliamentary elections abroad, followed by the second stage next Sunday in 48 Western countries.
One hundred three electoral lists are competing in the elections, comprising 718 candidates distributed over 15 electoral districts to select 128 members of parliament.
Elections are held in the country every four years. The 128 seats are distributed as follows: 28 for Sunnis, 28 for Shiites, eight for Druze, 34 for Maronites, 14 for Orthodox, eight for Catholics, five for Armenians, two seats for Alawites and one seat for minorities within the Christian community.
The elections are taking place in light of a complicated political climate and an unprecedented economic and financial crisis in Lebanon, exacerbated by the scarcity of basic commodities and the local currency's loss of about 90 per cent of its value.
