Lebanon election

[2952-0-0]

Hey, it's surprising no one is talking about this. Anyway, tomorrow (or today in Lebanon) Beiruters get to vote in the chaotic election campaign...

Lebanon Set to Start Voting for New Parliament on Sunday

By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: May 29, 2005
BEIRUT, May 28 - Campaign banners dangled across streets and images of pensive candidates were plastered on walls throughout this city this week as it prepared for the first round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections on Sunday. But one thing was missing from the preparations for this landmark vote: campaigning.

The election, which follows popular demonstrations and international pressure that ended Syria's nearly 30-year occupation, will continue over four successive Sundays in various parts of the country to select a 128-member legislature.

But the sense of bold changes that swept Lebanon after the assassination on Feb. 14 of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, has largely been overtaken by backroom politicking, and the sense that little may have changed after all. Save for a few campaign events, little outreach has been made to the average voter. Instead, most crucial decisions have been made in backroom deals After the months of street rallies, international crises and political intrigue, the vote, for many, now seems an anticlimax.

Lebanon's elections, like its politics, seem, inevitably, a labyrinth of sectarian division and time-honored tradition. The 128-member Parliament is evenly split between Christians and Muslims, while the country's demographic distribution is far different - though exact information is unavailable. No one here dares conduct a census.

Christians are generally assumed to make up less than 40 percent of the population, and Muslims make up almost 60 percent. In each voting district, seats are allotted to specific sects like Shiites, Maronites or Druse, and candidates from each sect can compete only for seats assigned to their sect. Voters must return to the villages of their forefathers rather than vote where they live, but are permitted to vote for candidates of all sects.

Adding to the complexity of the process are the electoral lists and alliances that have no legal standing but largely define the blocs in Parliament. Even then, voters are permitted to strike names from the ballots and substitute others, allowing them to mix and match from the lists. A handful of independent candidates are running.

"It's very bewildering," said Paul Salem, a former political analyst who is running in Koura, a Greek Orthodox district. "I would normally be running a campaign, but instead I have to convince the bosses that run the lists." Voting will be under a 2000 law that gerrymandered districts to suit Syria's allies in Parliament. The law allows for five electoral districts and, critics say, prevents some communities - especially Christian ones - from electing local candidates.

"With this law, we will continue to have the same forces that ran the country for the past 15 years," said Gen. Michel Aoun, the former nationalist Lebanese Army commander and a Maronite Christian who returned from exile this month. "These elections will not produce the free and fair elections that we want. But we cannot stop now."

A battle over the election law, which ended two weeks ago, left most candidates with only two weeks to campaign. While the political machinery of the large blocs has accelerated, independent candidates must work with little support.

"It's a farce in any country to have an election in 20 days," said Adnan Arakji, an independent candidate who is campaigning against the 19-member list headed by Saad Hariri, the son of the former prime minister. Opponents have assailed him as pro-Syrian. "How could you possibly talk to the millions who came down to Martyrs Square in just 20 days?" he said, referring to the vast rallies after the assassination.

At 35, Mr. Hariri is the leader in the election, riding on his father's reputation and, he says, intending to continue in his father's footsteps to revitalize Lebanon. His alliance is a powerful list of candidates all under the banner of his Future Movement and backed by the Hariri billions. In Beirut, 9 of 19 seats have been claimed by the Hariri list, with no opposition on Sunday. In one Beirut area alone, five of the seven seats are in Mr. Hariri's hands.

The biggest election battle is likely to be in the Christian-dominated Mount Lebanon region, which will vote in two weeks. Several Christian leaders are running, and General Aoun, who left the main alliance to form a list, has added a wild card.

[2952-0-0]

Security is tight, and the early results from Beirut say Hariri's list is winning...
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=15477

[CARLHAYDEN]

Please keep updating us on the results.

It is an interesting thread

[ATFFL]

I've been following the lead in fairly closely with some help from a local source.  The source dried up though, dammit.

[2952-0-0]

Pro-Hariri candidates take all of Beirut's 19 seats:

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Candidates loyal to the son of assassinated politician Rafik Hariri swept the first Lebanese election largely free of Syrian domination, claiming all 19 parliamentary seats in Beirut, results showed Monday. The vote was largely a tribute to the former prime minister whose death in a bombing earlier this year triggered international anger and street protests that ultimately drove the Syrian army out of Lebanon.

The United States was closely watching the vote, along with other governments that had pushed for a Syrian troop withdrawal followed by a timely election.

Interior Minister Hassan Sabei, announcing the official results, said Saad Hariri and his allies won all 10 contested seats. Hariri's ticket automatically won nine other seats where there were no challengers.

Hariri was the biggest vote-getter, collecting about 40,000 ballots, five times those of the loser in one constituency. But turnout was low, about 27 percent of the 473,000-plus eligible voters, compared with 35 percent in the 2000 parliamentary elections.

The weak turnout reflected calls for a boycott amid complaints that Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, did not have enough different political factions represented on his ticket and about the lack of challengers in some constituencies. Television stations reported the boycott was strong in Christian areas.

Hundreds of Hariri supporters danced and cheered outside the family's palatial residence in Beirut Sunday night as returns tallied by his campaign showed the Hariri slate leading. Fireworks lit the night sky as the Hariri family went to the grave of the slain leader late Sunday to pray.

Sunday's vote was the first stage of a four-part election. Other regions of Lebanon vote on the next three Sundays. Sabei called the vote ``trouble-free,'' but there was one minor incident - a fightfight between supporters of opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, a Hariri ally, and Najah Wakim, who lost Sunday.

Many observers expect the polls, the first free of Syrian meddling in 29 years, to sweep the anti-Syrian opposition to power and install a new parliament, removing the last vestiges of Damascus' control.

Syrian forces withdrew in April after mass demonstrations in Lebanon and relentless international pressure sparked by the Feb. 14 assassination of the former premier in a blast that also killed 20 others.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the U.N. chief was encouraged by the democratic conduct of the first round of the Lebanese parliamentary elections and hoped the remaining rounds would take place in the same peaceful atmosphere.

``These elections constitute a major opportunity for the Lebanese people to shape their own future, to strengthen their political institutions and to restore their full sovereignty,'' Annan said in a statement.

More than 100 observers from the European Union and the United Nations watched the vote for irregularities, the first time Lebanon has permitted foreign scrutiny.

``I see it as a potential for a new start,'' U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, who came to watch the balloting, told The Associated Press.

The Delaware Democrat acknowledged that the new parliament may not be fundamentally different from the previous one, but said the atmosphere had improved because ``there's an occupying force that's gone.''

[CARLHAYDEN]

Have the complete national results come in yet?

If so, what are they?

[Jake]

The voting is continuing for another two weeks I believe.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Thank you!

[2952-0-0]

The southern regions have voted yesterday and Hezbullah and other Islamists win all 23 seats up for grabs there.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Terrorists win free elections. Too bad.

[Jake]

48% voted for the terrorists in the US

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

48% voted for the terrorists in the US

Keep those comments up, and it'll be a majority.

[Angel of Death]

Hezbollah isn't any more terrorist than the IDF.

[Jake]

Hopefully you're joking like I was

[Angel of Death]

Ever heard of Qana?

[Jake]

How is this equivalent to years of rocket attacks on Northern Israel?

[Angel of Death]

Southern Lebanon was occupied, remember? But apparently, only the Israelis are allowed to "defend" themselves.

[Jake]

A countries military can defend themselves all they want, but when a terrorist group, be it Hizballoh, the French Resistance, or the colonials' attack before the Declaration was signed, it's terrorism. I don't deny that the organized military forces of Israel have a spotty at best record as far as selecting targets, but when you're surrounded by enemies on all sides who from the day your nation was founded have tried to destroy you, I think you'd think a bit different.

[??????????]

A countries military can defend themselves all they want, but when a terrorist group, be it Hizballoh, the French Resistance, or the colonials' attack before the Declaration was signed, it's terrorism. I don't deny that the organized military forces of Israel have a spotty at best record as far as selecting targets, but when you're surrounded by enemies on all sides who from the day your nation was founded have tried to destroy you, I think you'd think a bit different.

Jake, this guy will never understand your point.

[2952-0-0]

Media reports early on Monday showed thet former exiled Gen. Michel Aoun scored a sweeping election victory in Lebanon’s Christian heartland north and northeast of Beirut and losing to opposition leader, Walid Jumblat in the Druze hinterland and the Baabda-Aley district east and southeast of Beirut in the 3rd round of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections.

According to Naharnet, the General, who broke opposition ranks and joined pro-Syrian groups on an anti-corruption slate,  also swept Zahle in a coalition with Elias Skaff while Hizbullah and its allies won the Baalbek-Hermel region in the Bekaa. Saad Hariri’s Tayyar al Mustaqbal clinched all seats of the Western Bekaa constituency.

Jumblatt accused Aoun, who returned from 14 years' exile last month, of being brought in by Damascus to undermine the opposition. "Michel Aoun is a small (Syrian) tool," he told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television. "True he succeeded, I concede that."

[minionofmidas]

Do you have a breakdown of the 58 seats to vote this round?

[Democratic Hawk]

Any one know of any centre-left Christian parties in the Lebanon?

Dave

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

A countries military can defend themselves all they want, but when a terrorist group, be it Hizballoh, the French Resistance, or the colonials' attack before the Declaration was signed, it's terrorism. I don't deny that the organized military forces of Israel have a spotty at best record as far as selecting targets, but when you're surrounded by enemies on all sides who from the day your nation was founded have tried to destroy you, I think you'd think a bit different.

There are a number of pithy comments I could make about Israel.   The one I feel like making tonight is that what happened in the British mandate of Palestine just goes to show how important it is to stop illegal immigration.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

A countries military can defend themselves all they want, but when a terrorist group, be it Hizballoh, the French Resistance, or the colonials' attack before the Declaration was signed, it's terrorism. I don't deny that the organized military forces of Israel have a spotty at best record as far as selecting targets, but when you're surrounded by enemies on all sides who from the day your nation was founded have tried to destroy you, I think you'd think a bit different.

Jake, this guy will never understand your point.

Aren't you mostly pro-Palestine? You've called Ariel Sharon a war criminal before, one of the few things I agree with you on.

I don't think there are any leftist "Christian" parties in Lebanon, although I believe there is a socialist party that's officially secular but almost exclusively Christian in support.

Also, when's the President up again? I hope he gets tossed out soon, even though he's a Maronite Christian he's a complete puppet of Syria who has called Hezbollah a legitimate resistance group. He's a traitor and a sell out, and also extremely unpopular.

[M]

A countries military can defend themselves all they want, but when a terrorist group, be it Hizballoh, the French Resistance, or the colonials' attack before the Declaration was signed, it's terrorism. I don't deny that the organized military forces of Israel have a spotty at best record as far as selecting targets, but when you're surrounded by enemies on all sides who from the day your nation was founded have tried to destroy you, I think you'd think a bit different.

There are a number of pithy comments I could make about Israel.   The one I feel like making tonight is that what happened in the British mandate of Palestine just goes to show how important it is to stop illegal immigration.

Indeed. If only those dumb Jews had accepted their lot in Nazi Germany instead of risking life and limb to sneak into Palestine, we'd all be a lot better off today. Except a few thousand more dead christkillers, of course, but then who needs the lousy kikes?

Sometimes smart people say phenomenally stupid things.