Beirut – The Lebanese military party openly framing future elections as existential battles, amplifying rhetoric that risks promoting internal discrepancies through media campaigns in parliament and theatrical exhibitions.
The latest chapter in this process appeared at the last legislative meeting where representatives of the Lebanese army and the Falange party fought to make amendments to the election law.
The proportional representation law passed in 2017 included an article that allocated six seats to expatriates distributed along the lines of denomination and geography (two seats for Christians, two seats for Muslims, one for Deleuze and one for the other).
This article was scheduled to be held in the 2022 election. However, the political situation at the time brought about an exceptional halt of its implementation, giving foreigners the right to vote directly for representatives from their home towns in Lebanon.
This allowed for wider participation and made some differences in results.
Today, the six-seat clause is set to be implemented in the 2026 election, but the Lebanese military is pushing for a repeat of its 2022 experience along with opposition forces. That is, it argues that keeping expatriates as voters in internal elections and limiting them to six seats is fraudulent and undermines political expression.
But the subtle political calculations behind these debates: the majority of expatriates are concentrated in Europe, America and Africa. In other words, including them in the election of all parliamentary members means that Hezbollah strengthens the hand of the enemy of resistance, classified as “terrorists.”
This Congressional pressure was accompanied by an organized media campaign. Nidaa Al-Watan, a newspaper affiliated with the Lebanese military, published two articles: “Clashes will come and be inevitable” and “Joseph Aoun: Leave.”
Both articles were clearly inflammatory, targeting President Michel Aung and the presidency, making efforts to weaken political cover-ups of military facilities and set the streets fire against them.
Meanwhile, a significant overlap emerged between President Michel Aung and Congressional Speaker Nabi Beli, as both sides agreed to the need to protect against political conflict and maintain internal stability. This has sent messages nationally and internationally.
This harmony was seen as an attempt to curb Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s impulse to follow Western pressures in regards to amending election laws that served the interests of the opposition.
Some awarded the Medal of Honor to General Joseph Owns, particularly after the gentle management of Army’s Rauch Rock lighting, as guarantor of stability, after the image of the Army’s Chief Hasbollah and Hassan Nasrara, and the image of safety tensions not recorded.
In parallel, lawmakers from the Lebanese military and Kataeb Party disrupted Monday’s session by staging strikes that denied a quorum, underscoring their willingness to adopt closureism for political gain, even at the expense of institutional functions.
Thus, the ongoing agenda of targeting President Aoun of Samir Geagea and his allies is revealed. This agenda works with Israel’s interests that undermine internal stability and distort the image of resistance.
The claim that the Lebanese military will amend election laws under the banner of “exile rights” hides election bets on diaspora votes in order to lean a balance in favor of opposition parties within parliament.
Nevertheless, these attempts cannot be separated from a broader agenda aimed at destabilizing Lebanon, and plunging it into a cycle of political conflict that serves the enemy, amid media incitement campaigns and obstruction of the parliament.