Daily Star - Sleiman Hopeful Voting Age Pitch Will Return To Parliament

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman voiced hope Tuesday that the amendment to lower the voting age to 18 would be proposed again in Parliament and would be passed in accordance with constitutional norms as he stressed his commitment to guarantee expatriates’ right to vote abroad.
Sleiman is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Wednesday on a two-day official visit during which he will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Dimitri Medvedev.
“Sleiman expressed his regret for not passing the law to lower the voting age, particularly after the draft law was approved by Cabinet and sent to Parliament in accordance with the constitution,” a statement by the presidency’s press office said Tuesday.
On Monday Parliament shot down a bill to lower voting age from 21 to 18 ahead of the June 2010 municipal elections after the proposal sparked fears of an upheaval of the multi-confessional country’s power-sharing political structure by altering voters’ demographics.
The Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon’s Civil War, established parity in power between Christians and Muslims.
Analysts estimate that lowering the voting age would add more than 50,000 Christians to the electorate, mainly Maronites, and about 175,000 Muslims, roughly equally split between Shiites and Sunnis.
Christian parties have demanded that Lebanon allow expatriates to cast ballots abroad if the voting age is lowered, banking on their ability to rally their Diaspora to help balance out internal demographics.
Sleiman also voiced his strong commitment to grant expatriates the right to vote abroad, but said the step did not aim to balance out internal demographics but rather encourage the Diaspora’s involvement in Lebanese affairs as to support Lebanon.
Sleiman added that the expatriates’ right to vote abroad was approved in the parliamentary electoral law passed in 2009 which adopted the implementation of the procedure in the 2013 polls.
The president urged similarly for passing a law guaranteeing people from Lebanese origin the right to retrieve their nationality, a right Sleiman said he embraced in his acceptance speech and was later included in the government policy statement.
“The goal from passing both laws should not be to maintain balance in numbers between religious factions, which probably would not be achieved, but rather to promote the expatriates’ involvement in Lebanese national affairs to boost their sense of belonging and provide Lebanon major support at the political, economic and social levels,” Sleiman said.
Meanwhile, the Future Movement issued a statement Tuesday saying its MPs were committed to lower the voting age but awaited the right timing to reach domestic consensus regarding the issue after expatriates are guaranteed the right to vote abroad during the 2013 parliamentary elections.
The statement issued by the Future Movement also stressed the need to hold the upcoming municipal elections within the constitutional deadline next June.
Separately, Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud stressed Tuesday that the elections would be held within the constitutional deadlines following discussions with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun at the latter’s residence in Rabiyeh.