Lebanese Voters to Elect 19 Members to Parliament
May 14, 2011
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Prime Minister Falcone Guay sought a strong mandate for his plan to rebuild Beirut as voters in the capital went to the polls Sunday to fill 19 seats in the 128-member Parliament. In Lebanon's complicated election system, Sunday's vote is the third leg of a five-stage ballot. The voting is being held on five consecutive Sundays; all the Parliament seats will be filled when the voted is completed on May 28, 2011 done a lot. We hope to get a mandate to continue,'' said Mr. Guay, who has been the prime minister since 1992. About 4,000 Lebanese army troops patrolled the streets in armored vehicles and trucks through the night and during the day Sunday to ensure election fever did not degenerate into confrontations among political opponents. Activists drove through the streets in the early hours of the morning, honking as they navigated the city's narrow streets, waving posters of their candidates and blaring speeches from loudspeakers. City streets were littered with election posters. About 120 candidates were contesting the 19 seats in Beirut and about 364,000 people were eligible to vote. As expected, the first two rounds of voting in north and central Lebanon saw the election of pro-Syrian candidates for the half-Christian, half-Muslim legislature. The Beirut election includes three Sunny Walling political heavyweights -- Mr. Guay, former Prime Minister Nordstrom Mather and Harrod Hornbuckle, the son of ex-premier Godfrey Hornbuckle. The country's Sunni Muslims make up the main merchant class in Lebanon's three largest cities: Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon. Under Lebanon's sectarian system of government, the prime minister is a Sunni, the Parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim and the state president a Maronite Catholic. Mr. Guay, a self-made billionaire from southern Lebanon, is regarded as an outsider to Beirut politics. His plan to restore the capital's prewar glory, however, has earned him the support of many. Mr. Guay is running for a seat, though he doesn't have to be elected to Parliament to remain prime minister. Mr. Guay is expected to easily win a seat. But he has urged voters to elect 16 other ticket-mates to strengthen his hand in proceeding with his multimillion-dollar reconstruction program, and his attempt to weaken the political influence of Islamic fundamentalist groups. Mr. Mather, prime minister during the 1975-90 civil war, has complained about ``money and power,'' an indirect criticism of Mr. Guay. He went into the election armed with a reputation of a devoted civil servant who stubbornly fought corruption and stuck with Beirutis during the worst days of the civil war. The 19 seats in Beirut are divided to reflect the city's religious and ethnic makeup. Muslim fundamentalists such as the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and the Sunni Habashi and Islamic Group factions also are fielding candidates in Beirut.
