Brussels: “We fought a real battle to give you your rights, and we enacted them in the Lebanese Parliament in 2017,” affirmed Free Patriotic Movement leader, MP Gebran Bassil, in a speech he delivered at a dinner hosted by the Belgian Commission in Brussels on Friday evening.

According to National News Agency – Lebanon, Bassil referred to certain sides in the country who aim today to abolish this law and remove these seats, before the approach of the elections’ date upcoming May.

Bassil stressed that the Lebanese diaspora’s interests are more important than his movement’s political and electoral interest, noting that when they passed the law in 2017, they were aware that they lacked the majority’s support across the diaspora, yet they still passed the law to give the Lebanese expatriates their right.

He said, “Those who wish to vote in Lebanon can elect their representative in their district, and anyone who wants to vote abroad for their representative in their country can register and vote abroad.”

“The right of the Lebanese to vote abroad is part of their participation in public life in Lebanon. Giving the Lebanese residing abroad the right to vote and run for office, which we have sought to ensure that the diaspora obtains, is not enough,” Bassil maintained, thus stressing the importance of granting Lebanese expatriates their rights through a parliamentary bloc representing them in the Lebanese Parliament.

“It’s only natural that we care about preserving the Lebanese identity, and the Lebanese people in Lebanon. That is why we cannot visit any country outside Lebanon without raising with its officials the issue of Lebanese identity. This is what happened in our meetings with European officials, for when we lose our identity, we lose ourselves and our homeland,” Bassil asserted.

“The homeland is not only the land, but also the people,” he added. “When we lose the people who emigrate, we lose the homeland and ourselves. This is why Lebanon is at risk, and this is the greatest danger. War may be difficult, but its effects can be treated, and so can the economic crisis. But when we lose our identity, culture, civilization, and heritage, we lose the basic components of a people connected to their land,” Bassil underlined.