Report: Govt Remains Indecisive over 'Biometric' Cards

Lebanon's cabinet failed to reach consensus on whether to adopt biometric cards for the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for May 6 with debates postponed for some other government meeting.

Thursday's meeting held at the Grand Serail witnessed long debate between Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq over the issue.

Bassil had insisted on issuing biometric cards to be used by voters in the coming polls, while Mashnouq stressed that the procedure is not possible because of the time factor.

It would have been “possible to issue biometric cards before September 30. But now all I can do is issue between 500 thousand and 1 million cards to be given to pre-registered voters because they will vote outside their places of registration," argued Mashnouq.

Bassil, backed by ministers of the Change and Reform bloc, has rejected calls for the pre-registration of voters who wish to cast ballots in their places of residency. He argues that they are “targeted against the freedom of these voters.”

Ministrial sources told al-Hayat daily that Mashnouq has asked the government to approve a financial advance to print around 1 million biometric cards for those who wish to vote outside their place of registration.

But Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil considered that any assignment for printing the cards must be duly bid.

Lebanon's parliamentary election are slated for May 6, 2018.

The polls will be held under a complex proportional representation law for the first time in Lebanon's history.

The electoral law was reached after years of political wrangling and three extensions of parliament's term.