Sari Haddad is thousands of kilometres from Lebanon, but in Australia he is focused on building a new government for his home country.
He's mobilising the Lebanese-Australian community to register to vote in the Lebanon election in March next year.
"We're living here [in Australia] with all our civil rights covered, but people in Lebanon are fighting to survive and we have a responsibility," he told SBS News.
Mr Haddad was forced out of Lebanon in early 2020 after the country's plummeting economy crippled his tourism business.
"Me being here is not a coincidence by any chance. Me being in Australia is a product of the unsustainable development and the mismanagement the same politicians have done to Lebanon," he said.
Mr Haddad was in Lebanon during two of the most significant events to impact the country in recent years: the civilian-led uprising in October 2019, and the that killed 218 people.
He said there was a social responsibility to veer away from the major political parties that have governed the country for decades.
"All the people that were with us ... helping and healing the city and cleaning the rubble of their own city ... are gathering themselves to form a political alternative that Lebanon so desperately needs," he said.
A protester lights a flare as other protesters carry Lebanese flags and dance during ongoing anti-government protests in downtown Beirut in 2019. Source: EPA
"We deserve to have a country to come back to and people in Lebanon deserve to have a country that protects their rights.
"Us being divided didn't do the country any good. We only have one option to build a powerful state, a powerful government that can hold rule of law in the country and build it in a way that treats everyone as its citizen."
There are 16,654 Australians who have registered to vote so far - a 40 per cent increase since the last election in 2018.
Sara Skaf is the Australian-based volunteer for global initiative Sawti that is rallying expatriates around the world to have their voices heard in the election using the hashtag #YallaRegister.
She says the rise in numbers is no coincidence.
"The turn of events that has happened over the last few years has really shook a lot of people to their core. They're just like, 'you know what, enough is enough'," she said.
"The last few years have not been OK ... A lot of people have left Lebanon ... because it's a matter of survival."
"These people want to reclaim their country back and this is their way of doing it."
While estimates vary, about 15 million Lebanese people live outside the country. More than three-quarters of Lebanon's population is living in poverty, relying on expatriates to provide remittance and aid to their home country.
Currently, 180,345 Lebanese expatriates have registered globally for the election but Ms Skaf says her team is confident they can reach their goal of 200,000 registrations before the deadline on 20 November.
Mohamad Salami, 58, migrated to Sydney during the Lebanese civil war and, after seeing the current state of his home country, he will be ensuring his children register to vote.
"People start to see the change from the divide, the poverty. Maybe people put more trust in [parliament]. It's good to start somewhere," he said.
Lebanese migrant Mohamad Salami is ensuring his children will register to vote in the upcoming election. Source: Supplied/Mohamad Salami
"If you want to work for something to make it succeed, you have to start from scratch."
He says diaspora voting is important because, unlike Lebanese residents, they can vote without being "brainwashed" by the sectarian political divide in the country.
"People here are more honest than the people living there. People living there are deeply controlled by the politicians," Mr Salami said.
But Mr Salami is wary that, even with a rise in voter registration numbers, Lebanon won't see immediate change.
"It's not a big change going to happen, but it's good to start with seeing new people in parliament talk different ways. We have to give a chance to others."
Lebanon's parliament voted in favour of amending article 122 of the electoral law that would have restricted the Lebanese diaspora to vote within six seats, one seat representing each continent. But this move was met with disapproval by some of the country's top officials.
Gebran Bassil - leader of the Christian-backed political party Free Patriotic Movement and son-in-law of President Michel Aoun - has lodged an appeal against the vote, saying an absolute majority wasn't reached.
If his appeal is successful, the six additional seats will be reinstated - a move that Mr Haddad and Ms Skaf say restricts their voting freedoms.
Leader of the Free Political Movement party Gebran Bassil. Source: AAP, AP
"They are aware that we do have the power to change and by suppressing [the seats] to six, they're suppressing our sway," Ms Skaf said.
"If you do limit us to six, it's really just saying 'we don't really care about the diaspora', when the diaspora is helping Lebanon be on its feet, financially," Mr Haddad said.
"[The government] is fighting for that today is because they're scared that we can do a massive change."
