Media outlets will have to include parties that do not pass the electoral threshold but receive more than 1 percent of the votes in the polls it publishes from now on, Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Salim Joubran ruled Monday. Polling companies, which are required by law to report the results of their polls to the Central Elections Committee, will have to include numbers for all parties that do not pass the threshold who were included in the poll, and send the information within 96 hours of its publication. The ruling came in response to a petition by the Green Leaf party, stating that the media's policy to not present parties that are not expected to pass the 3.25% threshold in its polls violates election laws requiring the publication of complete poll results. In addition, Green Leaf petitioned against polling companies, saying that they do not send their findings to the Central Elections Committee as soon as possible, as required by law, and they do not send complete results, including parties that do not pass the threshold.
