The International Support Group for Lebanon has explicitly joined the forces pressuring Lebanese authorities to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled on May 15. It urged all political parties to "engage responsibly and constructively in the electoral process, maintain calm, and commit to peaceful elections for the benefit of the country and all Lebanese."
Warnings against any attempts to cancel or postpone the elections have increased in recent days, with accusations from the Progressive Socialist Party directed at the Free Patriotic Movement, alleging efforts to delay the elections through the proposal of voting for expatriates for representatives in the six continents, known as "District 16", which was eliminated by parliamentary amendments to the current election law. Officials from the Movement deny these claims.
After a meeting in Beirut to review preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections, the International Support Group for Lebanon called for "free, fair, transparent, and inclusive elections to be held on the specified date of May 15." The statement emphasized that "despite the international community's strong commitment to supporting the electoral process in Lebanon and providing substantial financial, material, technical, and political assistance for this process, elections are primarily a right of the Lebanese people and part of their aspirations, in addition to being a sovereign responsibility that the Lebanese authorities must fulfill."
Three months before the elections, the International Support Group urged the acceleration of preparatory work in accordance with the existing legal framework and relevant constitutional timelines, and called on the authorities "to quickly provide all necessary resources and intensify technical and administrative preparations to ensure that the electoral process runs smoothly and on schedule."
More specifically, the group urged relevant parties to allocate the necessary financial resources for conducting elections both within Lebanon and abroad, enabling the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and the Electoral Supervision Committee to fully perform their functions and ensure timely organization of expatriate voting procedures.
The International Support Group called on all political parties to "engage responsibly and constructively in the electoral process, maintain calm, and commit to conducting peaceful elections for the benefit of the country and all Lebanese." It also urged all political actors to take all necessary steps to encourage and ensure the inclusion of female candidates in their electoral lists and to enhance women's political representation and participation in all fields.
The International Support Group, which includes the United Nations and the governments of China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, along with the European Union and the Arab League, reaffirmed its continued support for Lebanon and its people.
In this context, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi reiterated the importance of respecting constitutional obligations and the necessity of conducting parliamentary and presidential elections on schedule. He met with the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, to discuss local, regional, and international issues, thanking her for her country's ongoing support to help Lebanon out of its current crisis and for supporting the Lebanese army.
Political forces continue to exchange accusations regarding attempts to postpone elections, with Wael Abou Faour, a member of the "Democratic Gathering" bloc, recently describing the proposal as "a toxic suggestion" from the Movement, summarizing a repeated urgent law proposal put forth for abolishing expatriate voting and converting it to voting for six deputies abroad, which would imply "revisiting all deadlines, meaning postponing or canceling the elections."
However, the Movement denies this information, with MP Salim Khoury rejecting any leaks about deals to affect the electoral entitlement or expatriate voting in exchange for removing investigative judge Tarek Bitar from the Beirut port explosion case, affirming that the Free Patriotic Movement supports conducting parliamentary elections on schedule and noting that "preparations are underway in full swing."
He indicated in a radio interview that "the Movement exercised its constitutional right to contest the election law, but the Constitutional Council's decision did not meet expectations." Meanwhile, the "Development and Liberation" bloc, after a meeting chaired by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, expressed astonishment at the "organized, dubious, and unjustified campaign of intimidation" by some parties and political forces alongside civil society organizations and their backers both domestically and abroad, aiming to disrupt the parliamentary elections by confusing public opinion and Lebanese voters, suggesting attempts to postpone this national entitlement. The bloc emphasized that "from its political and popular position, it affirms its commitment to holding parliamentary elections on schedule and will not accept postponement of this entitlement, even for a minute."
