CANDIDATES READY TO CHALLENGE POLL RESULTS AS DEADLINE LOOMS
Nicholas Kimbrell

Daily Star
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Lebanon

Tuesday final day to contest outcome of elections

BEIRUT: With the deadline to lodge election complaints looming,
candidates from the Metn’s opposing March 14-Independent and
March 8 lists are primed to challenge what each claim to be flawed
results. Tuesday is the last day to officially contest results from
the June 7 parliamentary elections with the Constitutional Council, the
only body with the authority to adjudicate post-election disputes, and
members from or sources close to both political blocs told The Daily
Star Monday that complaints would be filed before the deadline expires.

"We are planning to contest," said March 14’s defeated Greek Orthodox
candidate, Elias Mokhaiber. "We still have 48 hours, so any time in
the next two days. "The main idea is that there have been many causes
that would justify recourse at the Constitutional [Council]. We have
selected a few of these causes."

Among other complaints, Mokhaiber named bribery and violations of
media coverage laws as principal reasons for behind challenge.

Despite the March 14 majority’s national victory, independent
powerbroker Michel Murr and the Phalange party’s Sami Gemayel were the
only candidates to break the opposition’s Metn list. The six remaining
seats went to the March 8 opposition’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM),
led by Michel Aoun, or its allies, including the popular Armenian
Tashnag party.

Speaking with The Daily Star Monday, Gemayel also confirmed that
losing candidates on the majority list would file complaints. "I’m
not doing it," he said. "I know my co-listers are. I don’t know if
they are doing it today or tomorrow."

The FPM also plans to contest the vote. "Ghassan Rahbani [the
opposition’s defeated Greek Orthodox candidate] will contest the
victory of Michel Murr," said a source close to the FPM.

The contestation will highlight instances of bribery and intimidation,
the source said, notably the case of Syriac priest of Elias Akari. Last
month Aoun’s OTV television station aired an audio tape in which a
voice said to be Murr’s threatened Akari over the elections and loans,
reminding the priest of his sons position as defense minister.

Murr has sued OTV over the tape and Akari has filed a suit against
Murr.

The source was uncertain over whether the opposition’s defeated
Maronite candidate Pierre Achkar would challenge Gemayel’s victory.

Following the tightly fought polls, both Murr and MP Michel Aoun
pledged to challenge the results in the Christian battleground
district.

In mid-June, Murr, citing alleged irregularities in the Armenian vote,
vowed to challenge the Metn’s results.

"Six MPs from the March 14-Independent Salvation List should win
in the Metn district," he said, noting a large jump in Armenian
participation and a number of forged IDs that his election staff is
said to have found.

Aoun offered a more direct challenge to Murr’s victory. "We will file
a contestation before the Constitutional Council against MP Michel Murr
on charges of intimidation and threats," he said days after the polls.

The Metn, Lebanon’s largest exclusively Christian electoral district,
was seen as one of the election’s most pivotal contests and was
fiercely fought over. And ahead of the polls, former alliances
broke down.

In the 2005 parliamentary elections and 2007 by-elections, Murr had
been aligned with Aoun and the Tashnag party, but that alliance ended
before June with Murr deciding to run on the March14-Independent
list. The Tashnag, having strong ties to both Murr and Aoun, opted
to support the opposition list with the addition of Murr.

Apart from the Metn, Minister Elias Skaff, an opposition leader whose
list was swept in Zahle, is also rumored to be preparing a challenge
before Tuesday’s deadline.