elections.gov.lb Voter Registration : Lebanon

Organisation : Elections Saskatchewan
Facility : Voter Registration Procedure
Country : Lebanon

Voter Registration Procedure : https://elections.gov.lb/Home.aspx
Home page : https://elections.gov.lb/Home.aspx

Registration Procedure & Eligibility :
Articles from Law no. 25 of 8/10/2008 on Voters Registration and Eligibility

Voters Eligibility :
Article 3 :
Every Lebanese individual who has attained the legal age stipulated in the constitution, whether or not resident on the Lebanese territory, shall be entitled to vote.

Article 4 :
The following shall be prevented from voting :
** Persons deprived by legal sentence of their civil rights
** Persons convicted to be permanently disqualified from public service at any grades or positions
** Persons disqualified from their grades or public service temporarily, until the end of the disqualification period
** Persons convicted of a felony
Persons convicted of one of the following major offences: burglary, fraud, issuing of uncovered checks, breach of trust, misappropriation of funds, bribery, perjury, rape, intimidation, falsification, forgery, false testimony, immoral crimes as stated in the seventh chapter of the penal code, and crimes related to the planting, production and/or trade in illicit drugs
** Persons interdicted by court order until the end of the interdiction period
** Persons declared fraudulently bankrupt or those sentenced to sanctions stated in Articles 689 to 698 of the Penal Code
** Persons convicted and sentenced to sanctions stated in Articles 329 to 334 of the penal code
** The aforementioned persons may not vote until after rehabilitation.

Article 5 :
Naturalized Lebanese individuals may not vote before ten years after the naturalization decree is issued. This provision does not involve the foreign woman who becomes Lebanese by marrying a Lebanese citizen. (Clause added by virtue of law /59/ dated 27/12/08 amending some articles of law no. 25)

Article 6 :
Non retired military personnel of various ranks or those considered as such, whether in the army, Internal Security Forces, Public Security, State Security, or Customs Police may not vote.

Voters Registration :
Article 24 :
Registration on the voters’ rolls shall be mandatory; no one shall be allowed to be registered on more than one roll.

Article 25 :
A voters’ roll shall be permanent. However, they shall be revised periodically in accordance with the provisions of the present law.

Article 26 :
The General Directorate of Personal Status shall prepare, for each electoral district, automated voters’ rolls including the voters’ names according to the personal status records. The said rolls shall include the names of all voters registered in the electoral district from at least one year as of the date of revision of the voters’ rolls, i.e. as of the 5th of December of every year.

Article 27 :
Voters’ rolls must necessarily include: the voter’s full name and mother’s name, register number as per the personal status records, sex, date of birth and confession. A column shall be reserved on each roll for any occurring modifications, if any, to the records (rectification or replacement), with mentioning the relevant legal evidence thereof. Voters who are 100 years old and above must automatically be crossed off the voter rolls. However, this crossing-off shall not prevent their “re-registration” at the request of the concerned person, submitted to the Ministry within one month of publication of the voters’ rolls.

Article 28 :
The Directorate-General of Personal Status shall annually insert the additions and crossings-off to the voters’ rolls.

Article 29 :
Heads of regional registration offices and departments shall annually submit to the Directorate-General of Personal Status, between December 5 and January 5, primary rolls including (1) the names of registered persons legally eligible for registration in the voters’ rolls, (2) the names of those who are excepted to become eligible by the closing date of voters’ rolls, (3) the names of persons omitted or deceased or crossed off the personal status records for any reason whatsoever.

Article 30 :
The Office of the Police Record in each Muhafazat shall annually submit to the Directorate General of Personal Status, between December 5 and January 5, the names of persons convicted of crimes that deprive them of exercising their right to vote according to the provisions of the present law.

Article 31 :
Judicial Courts shall annually submit to the Directorate General of Personal Status, between December 5 and January 5, a list of final verdicts declaring fraudulent bankruptcy or interdiction.

Article 32:
** The Directorate-General of Personal Status shall edit the voters’ rolls according to the documents referred to it as mentioned in previous articles, upon reviewing them before February 1st of each year.
** Each roll shall include a special space reserved to note down the reasons of editing and operations of record transfer from one roll to another.
** In the event of transfer, mentioning the place of record, the register number and the crossing-off date is mandatory.
** In the implementation of the present law, no voluntary transfer of the place of record occurring within the year preceding the re-editing the voters’ rolls shall not be taken into consideration.
** Transfer due to marriage shall not be considered voluntary.
** Thus, a wife whose record was transferred by marriage during the said year shall be entitled to vote.

Article 33 :
Before the 10th of February of each year, the Directorate-General of Personal Status shall send copies of the primary voter rolls to municipalities, mukhtars, Muhafazat, cada centers, and Lebanese embassies and consulates abroad, to publish and circulate them in order to facilitate the final editing. Addressees should receive these rolls before the 10th of February at the latest in order to call the voters to check them and proceed with their editing according to available documentary evidence.

Article 34 :
The Ministry shall announce in the media (printed and audio-visual), within the deadline specified in the previous article, that the voters’ rolls are ready, and shall call voters to check them and take copies thereof. For the same purpose, the Ministry shall, within the same deadline, publish the primary voters’ rolls on its Website and release CDs thereof. Any person may have copies against a price determined by the Ministry.

Article 35 :
** Any interested individual may, as of February 10th of each year, submit to the competent registration committee mentioned in the present law, a request for the correction of any mistake regarding him/her on the voters’ rolls, such as registration omission, distortion of his/her name due to negligence, material mistake or any other reason.
** The said request shall be submitted to the registration committee within a period that ends by March 10 of the same year, along with supporting evidence and documents.
** No fee shall be required for the request.

Article 36 :
Each voter, registered in any voter roll, shall have the right to ask the competent registration committee to cross off or add any name that has been illegally registered or unregistered on the roll. The Governor (Muhafez), district commissioner (Qaimaqam) and mayor (Mukhtar), each within their competence, may exercise this right, before the 10th of March of every year.

Article 37 :
** The Directorate General of Personal Status shall consider, during the preparation of the final voters’ rolls, the editing and record transfer operations provided for in the present law.
** Voters’ rolls shall be closed on March 30 of each year and remain in force until March 30 of the following year.
** The Minister of Interior and Municipalities shall send a copy of the final voters’ rolls he had received from the Directorate General of Personal Status to the Directorate General of Political Affairs and Refugees to be adopted in any elections held between March 30th of the current year and March 30th of the subsequent year.

Article 38 :
** Each electoral district shall have one or more registration committees.
** Each registration committee shall be made up of an active judge (as president), one of the heads or members of the municipal councils in the electoral district and one employee from the Directorate General of Personal Status (as two members).
** One or more employees from the Directorate General of Personal Status shall be annexed to each registration committee by decision of the Minister.

Article 39 :
The registration committee shall :
** Examine and make decisions on the requests for voters’ rolls rectification as per the provisions of the present law, and forward them to the concerned persons and the Directorate General of Personal Status. Such decisions are appealable before the competent higher registration committee mentioned in the present law within five days of notification by means of a duty-free petition.
** The appellant shall be exempted from retaining a lawyer.
** Receive the elections’ results upon the closing of polling stations, revise the minutes and documents, and take appropriate decisions in this regard.
** Count and tabulate the results of each candidate and submit them to the presidents of competent higher registration committees.