MURR PLANS TO CONTEST METN ELECTION RESULTS
By Nicholas Kimbrell

Daily Star
June 17 2009
Lebanon

MP challenges ‘irregularities’ in Armenian vote

BEIRUT: MP Michel Murr announced Tuesday that he plans to contest
election results in the Metn district due to alleged irregularities
in the Armenian vote. Murr, a powerful independent aligned with the
victorious March 14 coalition during the polls, said a sizable increase
in ballots cast by Armenian voters and the presence of forged ID cards
"raised suspicion" over the legitimacy of the Metn’s results.

"When we have all our evidence and proof ready, we will challenge
the results and call on the Constitutional Council to annul votes
from suspicious polling stations and correct the results," Murr said
during a press conference.

"Six MPs from the March 14-Independent Salvation List should win in
the Metn District," he added.

Despite the March 14 majority’s national victory, Murr and the Phalange
party’s Sami Gemayel were the only candidates to break the opposition’s
Metn list in the June 7 parliamentary polls. The six remaining seats
went to Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement or its allies, including
the popular Armenian Tashnag party.

Citing estimates by the Tashnag’s Metn MP Hagop Pakradounian, Murr
said Armenian participation in the polls increased from the 2007
by-election from 9,200 votes to 13,700, despite an increase of only
500 registered voters.

He also said his staff had discovered a collection of forged ID cards
and alleged that opposition supporters had used them to vote. He
presented one of the cards at the press gathering and said some had
been sent to the Interior Ministry. He did not specify whether the
IDs were forged for Armenian voters.

In the 2005 parliamentary elections, Murr had been aligned with Aoun
and the Tashnag party, but that alliance broke before June, with Murr
deciding to run on the March 14-Independent list. The Tashnag, having
strong ties to both Murr and Aoun, opted to support the opposition
list with the addition of Murr.

But following the election, Murr questioned whether he received the
full support of the Armenians as arranged. The accusation sparked an
exchange with Pakradounian last week with each claiming responsibility
for the other’s electoral success.

Speaking Tuesday at a meeting between members of Aoun’s parliamentary
bloc, Pakradounian, who ran uncontested in the election, said Murr
"is free to file complaints about this issue."

He called Murr an "old friend" and said 2,200 Tashnag supporters
voted for him, a lower number than Murr would have liked.

"People crossed him out for reasons that both the voters and Murr
know," he said, adding: "We are citizens and no one determines how
we elect and who we elect … Whoever wins thanks us; and whoever
loses curses us."

Pakradounian also criticized those parties in Lebanon which "don’t
consider Armenians as Christians or Lebanese."

"The Armenians are a basic pillar of this nation whether they like
it or not," he said.

Murr is not the only MP who has vowed to challenge the Metn results
through the Constitutional Council, the only body with the authority
to adjudicate post-election disputes. Aoun has also promised to lodge
an official complaint targeting Murr.

"We will file a contestation before the Constitutional Council against
MP Michel Murr on charges of intimidation and threats," the FPM leader
said last Wednesday in his first public appearance following the polls.

The Metn was one of the most fiercely contested districts ahead of
the polls and post-election challenges were not unexpected.

The turmoil, however, has extended beyond the political class.

Murr said on Tuesday that he hoped the judiciary would deal decisively
with Syriac priest Elias Akari, who he referred to as "the ungrateful
father."

OTV, an Aoun-run television station, aired an audio tape in which
a voice said to be Murr’s threatened Akari over the elections and
a loan, reminding the priest of his son’s position as the defense
minister. On Monday, Murr announced that he would sue OTV.

The Syriac Orthodox Church has also gotten involved, filing a law
suit against Akari and accusing him of embezzling funds, forgery
and bribery.

Apart from his decision to challenge the Metn results, Murr
endorsed Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri for the post of prime
minister and Amal chief and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri for
the Speakership.