First Round of Elections in Lebanon Marked with Low Turnout

The first of four stages of Lebanese election took place yesterday in the capital - Beirut. These are the very first free and democratic elections since the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country last month. The election was marked by the victory of the son of former assassinated Premier Rafik Hariri, Saad Hariri. However, a very low turnout of 28% was seen, in particular, in Christian areas the turn out was even lower - just 10%.

In Beirut, Saad Hariri was running for the Sunni seat, Solange Gemayel for Maronite seat, Michel Pharaon for the Catholic seat and Bassem Shab for the Evangelical seat.

The low turnover in the first district of Beirut - Achrafieh was a result of low participation of Christians in the district.

Small turnout among Christians was caused by the controversial electoral law 2000, used during the time of Syrian occupancy to form a pro-Syrian government.

Prior to the election several objections against the electoral law were made, including a protest by the Maronite Bishops' Council. As the election approached, several groups called upon people to boycott the election since the law under which the election was run under was not just and marginalised Christians.

The atmosphere during the day was stirred by the supporters of Free Patriotic Movement (a party led by Michel Aoun) as they toured Beirut and called for a boycott of the election. They stated that the 2000 electoral law "does not represent people's opinion."

In contrary to this, supporters of the Lebanese Forces urged people during the day to "express their opinion and take part in the constitutional process."

Solange Gemayel, representative of the Maronite Christians expressed her surprise over the voices to boycott the election: "I don't understand how they say they are boycotting the elections because it does not provide true representation for Christians. How can we be Christians and not represent the Christian community?"

Gebran Tueni running for Orthodox seat in the district opposed the calls to boycott the election: "People should know these are the first free elections taking place in a long time. And if we want to prove we as Christians are part of the decision-making power in Lebanon, we should vote."

As he expressed, participation of people, not addressing just Christians, is very important for national unity and development of Lebanon into the democratic modern country.

The election is being observed by the EU Election Observation Mission and Canadian team, which is "the first of its kind in Lebanon," team leader Senator Mac Harb expressed.

"We have had complete access to everything and it has been a smooth ride so far, and hopefully it will be the same case for the rest of Lebanon," said Harb.

EU observers, Stephano Valentino gave similar approval and said that Lebanon "is making a good effort to make things work in the right way."