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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.
By
Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff
Monday, May 30, 2005 |
