The Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Ministry issued today a clarification statement over the recent confusion regarding the Consul General in Sydney Charbel Macaroun's distribution of expatriate voters across polling stations in the Australian capital.

In this context, the Ministry explained that “the Consulate General in Sydney implemented the Ministry's instructions regarding the Lebanese expatriates’ elections, whereby it divided the voters geographically according to the postal codes used in Australia, and as stated in the forms for those who registered to vote abroad.”

It added: “The electoral machines located in and around the city of Sydney for the various Lebanese parties had assisted their supporters and partisans residing there, and wishing to cast their votes, to fill out the required registration forms. Consequently, if a voter provides a residential address and zip code other than his/her actual place of residence, this does not hold the Consulate General responsible whatsoever.”

The Foreign Ministry continued to indicate that “the Consulate General in Sydney divided about 17,000 voters into 9 polling stations and 47 polling booths, according to what the voter or the electoral machine provided as a postal code in the registration form. As the Consulate cannot verify the authenticity of the voter's real place of residence, hence providing the correct postal code and place of residence remains the sole responsibility of the registered voter.”

“Subsequently, when members of the same family register according to different residential addresses and postal codes, it is normal for them to vote in different polling stations,” the statement underlined.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, represented by the Lebanese missions abroad, works to assist voters to cast their votes, and encourages them to communicate and interact with these missions to ensure the success and smooth running of the electoral process," the statement concluded.