Excuse me, but I have the right to vote.

Photo from http://www.ldn-lb.org

At a workshop held on the reform of electoral laws yesterday, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said that the right of expatriates and handicapped persons to vote and the use of pre-printed ballot papers were among the anticipated reforms, according to a Daily Star article published today.  “Baroud added that he hoped an election supervisory commission would one day replace the Interior Ministry in taking charge of elections, reminding the audience of his earlier remarks: ‘I hope to be the last Interior Minister to manage general elections and I hope that an independent commission would handle this task.'”

According to a recent AFP article, after the June vote in Lebanon, the European Union presented a list of 36 recommendations to improve the electoral process. “Among the 36 recommendations made by the EU is for Lebanon to gradually reduce emphasis on confessionalism in the electoral system, introduce a degree of proportionality, the use of officially printed ballots, and establish an independent election management body as well as better representation for women.

The report also noted that a law that prevents Lebanese women from passing on their citizenship if married to a foreign national was discriminatory as it barred their offspring from voting.

Out of 587 candidates in the run-up to the vote, 12 were women and only four were elected to the 128-seat parliament.”

The question is: when will these reforms become the law?