The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 30 2005
Hariri makes clean sweep in Beirut polls
But victory marred by lowest election turnout in years
By Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff
Monday, May 30, 2005
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Saad Hariri, the son of the country’s assassinated
former Premier, made a clean sweep in the first stage of the
country’s elections according to preliminary results. But the start
of Lebanon’s first free elections in more than 30 years was marred by
a very low voter turnout of just 28 percent, the smallest
participation in an election 13 years.
Yesterday’s voter apathy is in stark contrast to the euphoric scenes
earlier this year when hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the
streets following the murder of Rafik Hariri in a show of unity to
oppose Syria and Lebanon’s pro Damascus government.
The Beirut polls have still to be followed by other districts over
the next four week-ends and it remains to be seen if yesterday’s
turnout represents a blip because Hariri was virtually assured of
victory, or whether it will be repeated across the country.
In Christian areas, turnout was even less, hitting a low of 11 and 10
percent in some areas. Prior to the election Christian opposition
politicians had criticized the legal framework for the polls,
insisting it failed to properly represent Christian voters.
Hariri’s bloc had already secured more than half of the Beirut
districts’ 19 seats before polling day as other candidates withdrew
as it became certain Hariri would win the seats. Speaking last night,
Hariri said: “This is a victory for Rafik Hariri. The blood of Rafik
Hariri was not shed in vain.”
He added: “Today is the victory of democracy that they tried to
violate.”
Hariri failed to mention the low turnout. But Michel Aoun, leader of
the largely Christian Free Patriotic Movement, said voter apathy
meant Hariri “failed in the elections.”
Although he is fielding candidates in other districts, Aoun urged
Beirutis to boycott yesterday’s poll and hundreds of FPM supporters
clad in orange, toured the capital urging voters “not to waste their
votes.”
The low turnout was widely blamed on the unfair electoral law, which
was drawn up in 2000 when Syrian control of Lebanon was at its peak
and was widely seen as favoring pro Syrian political groupings.
Despite last month’s withdrawal of Syrian troops, Parliament failed
to adopt a new law.
Reflecting on the low turnout Prime Minister Najib Mikati said:
“These elections are free, honest and transparent, but they are not
fair. We are well aware that the electoral law is not fair, but it
was not our responsibility to change it. The Parliament had four
years and 10 months come-up with a new electoral law and it didn’t.
So
we were forced to organize the elections under this law.”
Mikati, who was appointed two months ago to lead the country into
free elections said his Cabinet had “promised and delivered,” by
abstaining from running for the polls and holding the elections on
time.
No major violations were recorded, but in rare cases, voters were
unable to vote because their names did not appear on the voters
lists.
The polls were held under international supervision for the first
time with over 100 European Union and United Nations observers at the
polling stations.
Chief EU observer Jose Ignacio Salafranca Sanchez-Neyra said
yesterday’s elections were a celebration of democracy.
“Today, the only winner is Lebanon,” he told reporters outside a
polling station.”
The country’s largest Armenian political party, Tashnag, also called
for a boycott, after it had decided not to field candidates after
Hariri had allied with its rival Ramgavar party.
Hariri and his allies had urged voters to turn out in high numbers.
About 420,000 voters are registered in Beirut. The capital’s 19 seats
are divided as follows: Six Sunni Muslims, three Armenian Orthodox,
two Greek Orthodox, two Shiite Muslims, one Druze, one Maronite
Catholic, one Armenian Catholic, one Greek Catholic, one Protestant
and one for minorities.
Meanwhile outside Beirut, two more candidates won uncontested seats,
this time in the Chouf area, in Mount Lebanon, where elections will
take place on June 12.
On Saturday, the deadline for submitting candidacies in Mount
Lebanon, the Interior Ministry announced that Druze candidates Walid
Jumblatt and Marwan Hamade effectively became MPs because there were
no challengers to the same seats. A total of 17 MPs have already won
uncontested in the entire country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress