Expats Begin Voting in Elections According to L’Orient Today, “As of 7 pm Friday, 14,708 of 31,000 registered Lebanese expats voted. Polling stations for Lebanese residents of Iran and nine Arab countries, namely Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, opened Friday morning.” [L’Orient Today]
Poll Indicates Higher Openness For Female Candidates Among Voters This Year According to a poll facilitated by the non-government organization ABAAD as well as the UN Democracy Fund, around 89% of voters in Lebanon said they were likely to vote for a female candidate in the next election, which comes amid an already historic 37% increase in the number of women candidates on the electoral lists. [The961]
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Sada, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
World Leaders Are Forgetting About Syrian Refugees Adnan Nasser & Alexander Langlois
Nasser and Langlois write, “As the Syrian war continues, not only are Syrians being denied human rights in Syria, but they are also increasingly denied humanity in other countries, resulting in illegal refoulement.”
HRW Lebanon: Credible Plans Needed on Education Crisis
“Donors at the annual humanitarian conference for Syria and countries hosting Syrian refugees should press Lebanon to change policies that prevent aid from reaching schools and students. That includes the central bank’s practice of keeping most of the value of humanitarian aid by manipulating currency exchange rates at the time of withdrawal. The Education Ministry should publish data on student enrollment and attendance and end restrictions on access to schooling for refugee students. Donors should also meet regularly with representatives of Lebanese teachers, who have been on strike for most of the year over compensation grievances.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a non-profit, nonpartisan leadership organization of Lebanese-Americans.
