The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants announced yesterday unofficially that over 85,000 Lebanese registered online to vote in the upcoming elections. The minister seemed proud about the number but I think it’s a very low turnout given that the campaign has been ongoing for over two months now.

In fact, if we assume that the Lebanese diaspora is around 8 million and that half of them are eligible to vote, barely 2% of them registered online. Nevertheless, it’s still better than nothing but if the government and ministry are serious about getting expats to vote, they should throw in more money and incite Lebanese embassies and communities worldwide to get people to register.