LIMS organized a series of four townhall meetings on May 2, 3, 8, and 9 to educate voters on the election’s process, procedures, and the rights of voters, as well as to motivate them to vote. The meetings took place in north Lebanon, in the districts of Batroun, Zgharta, and Tripoli, and hosted an average of 71 voters per meeting, including members of municipal councils and mayors (better known as mukhtars). Each meeting encouraged participants to vote and explained the importance of voting.

In the townhall meetings, voters were informed about the electoral system and voting procedures. Previously, Lebanon had a majoritarian electoral law where forming lists wasn’t mandatory, and individual candidates had the possibility, but not the obligation to be on the list. In contrast, the current law states that lists are mandatory and individual candidates must be included in a list, otherwise they cannot run on the ballot for elections. Also, in the majoritarian law, people had the possibility to vote for several candidates running on competing lists, while voting in the proportional law is restricted to a list and is not allowed to include candidates from different lists. The new law adopted preferential voting that creates competition between members of the same list. Throughout the organized events, a detailed explanation of the pre-printed ballots, the electoral threshold, and the impact of “white ballots” were also discussed. Other hot topics during the townhall meetings were the 10 steps that voters should follow on election day and how votes are tallied as per the new electoral law.

Townhall Meeting in Batroun, May 2, Photo Album   
Townhall Meeting in Zgharta, May 3, Photo Album
Townhall Meeting in Tripoli, May 8, Photo Album
Townhall Meeting in Tripoli, May 9, Photo Album