After the meeting, Bassil stated that the discussion revolved around the expatriate voting file, considering it “the main and strategic issue.” He pointed out that he reviewed with the Patriarch the stages the law went through until its approval, considering the adoption of expatriate voting “a major national and Christian achievement” in the context of correcting the imbalance in representation that has occurred in recent years.
He continued, saying: “Today we see how this achievement is being disrupted,” noting that the percentage of expatriate registration has decreased by 40%, considering this evidence of the deterioration of confidence in the authorities’ procedures. He affirmed that 152,000 expatriates have registered, knowing that the process was carried out in accordance with the current law, which obliges the government to immediately begin implementing this law.
Bassil warned of “the greatest fear,” which he described as “a settlement, conspiracy, or crime” that could lead to the cancellation of the expatriate clauses from the law, “and return us to before the approval, and eliminate the strategic achievement as happened in the Orthodox law,” considering that the opportunity may not be repeated.
Bassil revealed that he presented the Patriarch with a letter addressed to the heads of churches and orders in Lebanon and the diaspora, stressing that there is a “historical responsibility to prevent expatriates from losing their rights.”
He added: “Rights should not be lost as a result of paid media campaigns,” pointing out that the Movement is the one who approved the law and granted expatriates the right to choose to vote inside Lebanon or abroad, and that their rights are “much more important than those campaigns.”
Bassil concluded by saying: “The Church has a responsibility to warn and protect the expatriates… and we will continue to confront and raise our voices, but a lack of solidarity will lose rights.”
