Time is running out for the Interior Ministry, while the different parties are working to produce a settlement on the electoral law, preparing to benefit from domestic and regional developments to enter the elections and build on their results in the next government, and define the future of major national decisions, even though these decisions are not in the hands of the Lebanese themselves.

Before February 10, Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar is scheduled to summon the electoral bodies, set the dates for candidacies, and specify the date of the elections, unless the process is postponed for at least two months.

Officials concerned within the Interior Ministry say that most of the logistical preparations have been completed, except for settling the issue of expatriate voting (Lebanese abroad). The ministry is working according to the provisions of the current law. They also say that most of the required financial expenses are available and that "there is no concern regarding this matter".

Staff at the ministry are working as if elections were tomorrow, in line with Al-Hajjar’s directives.

Lawmakers have not yet agreed on how to handle the draft law amended by the government and the commotion it caused after it landed at the Defense and Interior Committee headed by MP Jihad Al-Samad, and it may make its way to the joint committees.

MPs heard from Al-Hajjar that he and the Foreign Ministry are preparing a report regarding the decision on the fate of expatriate voting (Lebanese abroad), and that he will submit a final formula with Minister Youssef Rajji on this matter, with the latter stopping at the Lebanese Forces’ options and without skipping over them. Their proposal, if finalized, would constitute the expected way out for the MPs, who cannot easily exit this “open showdown”, where expatriates are being dealt with by all sides not from the angle of ensuring proper representation, but from the angle of benefiting from their preferential votes.

While awaiting the government's election solution, it seems its proposal at parliamentary committees will not reach safe shores due to each bloc sticking to its opinion.

If a two-month postponement takes place to facilitate the settlement, this would be acceptable to President Joseph Aoun, and supported by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, "on the basis that it is not an extension."

The term of Parliament ends on May 21, with Interior Ministry officials leaning toward setting the elections on a Sunday, either May 3, 10, or 17. This does not mean that a decree summoning the electoral bodies guarantees that the elections will take place on schedule.

Before the Interior Ministry reaches the red line that would threaten the electoral process, Al-Samad tells Annahar that the government must hold the elections on time similar to what it achieved with the municipal elections, "where expatriates came to their towns and took part in choosing their municipal councils, and this is their right. They can do the same in the parliamentary elections. If the blocs act with good intentions, this hurdle can be overcome. I sensed that most members of the Defense Committee support allowing expatriates to come to Lebanon and participate alongside residents in this election, or at least applying the current law. There is no escape from consensus here because it makes no sense to favor one side at the expense of another, or to deprive any voter group of freely exercising its choices regarding the candidates."

Al-Samad recalls what was mentioned in the President’s oath-of-office address and in the government’s ministerial statement, both of which spoke about holding the elections on time. There was no mention of amending the law, which would require national consensus if any of its provisions were to be changed.