Turnout Is Low as Lebanon Begins Voting for Parliament

Turnout Is Low as Lebanon Begins Voting for Parliament

By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: May 30, 2005
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 29 - Voters here kicked off the first of four rounds of voting for Parliament on Sunday in the first elections free of Syrian interference in more than three decades. A powerful slate led by the son of the assassinated former prime minister is heavily favored to sweep the vote.

Mohammad Taqoush, 25, went to the polls in the Ras Beirut neighborhood of West Beirut with high expectations. He marched in the demonstrations against the Syrian presence in Lebanon after the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in February, and saw the vote as a moment for the former opposition to make good on its promises for change.
"I am here to change this nation," Mr. Taqoush said as he left the voting booth. "We have been promised a change, and now we'll see if we get it." Still, turnout was low, and many voters seemed to accept that much of the election had already been decided, with the ticket led by Saad Hariri, Mr. Hariri's son, unchallenged for 9 of Beirut's 19 seats. Final results of the poll are expected Monday, but Mr. Hariri and his allies celebrated a victory on Sunday night.
"I came here to vote out of principle," said Faiz Taweel, 60, at the same polling station. "This is the least exciting election I've ever voted in." Local and international observers monitored the voting for the first time in Lebanon. Taxis reserved by candidates shuttled voters to polling places, while campaign workers stood at entrances handing out ballots with their candidates' names already written in, which is legal in Lebanon.
In the Christian-dominated eastern Beirut neighborhood of Achrafiyeh, Armenian groups and followers of the former Lebanese Army leader, Gen. Michel Aoun, dismissed the election as an appointment by another name.
"The level of representation is wrong, and the law we're running under is wrong," said Kavork Kassajian, a member of the Tashnak Armenian party, one of a band of people holding banners and distributing fliers at the polling station urging voters to boycott. "It ultimately means that Hariri gets to decide who comes out."
Saad Hariri, a self-described political neophyte, and his family visited polling places throughout the city to drum up support. Hariri campaigners wore T-shirts, caps and backpacks emblazoned with the campaign slogan "With You."
"The people will have their say today and demonstrate their loyalty to Rafik al-Hariri," Saad Hariri told reporters. "Those who are against us today are against a unified country or a unified Beirut."
But at least some voters said they had been put off by his heavily bankrolled campaign.
Some voters were frustrated that a long battle over the election law ended so late that candidates had only a couple of weeks to make their platforms clear. One, Misbah al-Sagheer, said: "We don't really know where anyone stands, even though everybody thinks they do. And too much of this election is about sectarianism and division."
The shortened campaign especially hurt independent candidates.
"Can I lie to myself? Do you think I have much of a chance to compete against that financial tsunami?" said Nabila Fathallah, who campaigned at the polling station in the Bashura neighborhood. "Still, we have to keep trying because what's happening today isn't what we want."
Members of the Hariri alliance brushed off criticism and sought to emphasize how much the election meant.
"If this is not the moment for change, then when could it come?" said Mohammad Qabbani, a candidate on the Hariri list. "We want this to be a clean battle and think these are the cleanest elections yet."
The election will continue over three consecutive Sundays to select a 128-member Parliament.