On the election operations in south Lebanon
Lebanon, Politics, 6/6/2005

Voters in the cities of south Lebanon casted their votes in the second round of the parliamentary elections which are being held in three phases, the first of which started in Beirut on May 29. The list of Saad al-Hariri had won all the 19 seats in the capital.

The voting operation proceeded slowly in the beginning of the day ( Sunday), but was stronger in the Shiite areas. Supporters for the Hizbullah party and the Amal movement toured in cars in the streets of certain cities, wearing clothes in yellow and green symbolizing the two groups, chanting national songs and urging voters to cast their votes for their joint list.

News reports in Tyre said that the atmospheres of voting in this city were better than in Sidon where most of the candidates won unopposed, noting that 20% of the voters registered in the areas of the Shiite and Sunni majority cast their votes into the mid of the day against a rate not exceeding 5% in the areas of Christian majority like al-Arqoub and Kafer Shouba.

In Jezzine, news reports said that there was no election competition that could be seen in this circle because the three candidates of the districts won unopposed ( two of them are Maronite and the third is a Catholic ), noting that the rate of voting has not exceeded 11% until the mid of the day, which is a very low rate, basically because of the boycott by the free national trend and the Christian opposition. The reports stressed that turnout was normal in the Shiite villages in Jezzine including Aramta and Kafer Jouna.

Observers expected that the rate of turnout in these elections will decrease by 15% in comparison to the participation in the municipal elections in 2000 when the rate reached 45%.

Previous Stories:
  Lahoud renews Lebanese government cooperation with the International Investigation Committee   (6/4/2005)
  Hammoud confers with Pederson on developments   (6/4/2005)
  Nassrallah warns against foreign intervention in Lebanon   (6/4/2005)
  Assassination of Lebanese Journalist Qassir overwhelm the election   (6/4/2005)
  Inter-Lebanese split over the assassination of Hariri   (6/3/2005)
  International condemnation for al-Qassir assassination   (6/3/2005)

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