The second phase of the Lebanese expatriate parliamentary elections, which started since seven in the morning in 48 countries in the continents of Europe, Africa and America, in addition to Australia and the United Arab Emirates, have ended in some of them and are nearing the end in others.

In United States and Canada, polls opened at two o’clock in the afternoon Beirut time. Polls in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, closed with a 68% turnout in the UAE.

According to a NNA correspondent, Lebanese voters’ turnout reached 70.43% in Abu Dhabi and 54.3% in Austria.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, announced this evening the latest updates on voters’ turnout in different countries of the Lebanese Diaspora, as follows:

Abu Dhabi: 3,250 out of 5,142 voted (63%)

Dubai: 10,424 out of 19,944 voted (52%)

Europe: 19,000 out of 70,000 voted (27.3%)

France: 28,000 voted (16%)

Turkey: 506 out of 1000 voted

Germany: 4,100 out of 16,000 voted (25%)

Africa: 3,700 out of 17,500 voted (21%)

A registered 194,348 voters will cast their ballots at 192 polling stations around the world.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati inspected the progress of the electoral process during his visit this evening to the elections operations room at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, whereby he thanked “everyone who worked to make the electoral process a success in all countries of the world.”

“Our meeting will be renewed on May 15 to be with you from the Ministry of Interior, and we hope that the new parliament will meet the aspirations of the Lebanese and that we would reach recovery,” he said, praising the continuous follow-up by those concerned to ensure the transparency and integrity of the parliamentary elections.

On Saturday morning, two boxes carrying expat votes arrived at the Beirut airport from Tehran, escorted by Lebanon’s envoy to the Islamic Republic.

All other ballots will be delivered to Lebanon by logistics giant DHL, with the exception of those from neighboring Syria which will be handed over across the border, Bou Habib said.

Lebanese expatriates had cast their votes for parliamentary elections in nine Arab countries and in Iran on Friday, with Syria and Tehran seeing the highest turnout rates.

Bou Habib said nearly 60 percent of the 30,930 voters registered overseas had cast a ballot, a jump from 56 percent in 2018.

Source: Al-Manar English Website