BEIRUT, 23 May 2005 — Lebanese politicians agree that electoral reform must be a priority after Lebanon holds its first parliamentary polls for three decades without Syrian troops in the country, a UN election expert said yesterday. Lebanese go to the polls in four rounds of voting from May 29 to June 19 under a widely criticized law designed to maximize the influence of pro-Syrian politicians in the 2000 elections.
“If there’s one area of consensus, it’s obviously that the 2000 law has flaws and also that the electoral law needs to be discussed immediately after the elections,” Carina Perelli, head of the UN elections unit, told Reuters in an interview.
Many Lebanese believe their politicians will simply go back to business as usual once the election is over and quietly forget their promises of reform made after protests by hundreds of thousands of people helped force the Syrian withdrawal.
But Perelli challenged that view. “Politicians are aware this is what people think. They are also aware that the situation has fundamentally changed and that elections are only one step in the political transition. And they are aware that Lebanese citizens played a fundamental role by taking to the streets,” she said.
The vagaries of the electoral law, retained to enable the polls to be held without delay, mean many of the same faces will return to Parliament, despite the political earthquake set off by the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. That prompted Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim leaders to join in demanding a Syrian pullout, though sectarian-flavored election jockeying has somewhat eroded their loose alliance.
Perelli said the United Nations, which is providing technical assistance for the polls and coordinating with European Union and other foreign observers, could bring its expertise to any Lebanese debate on electoral law if asked.
Anti-Syrian Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said yesterday he would run in election despite difficulties in forging an electoral alliance with Muslim opposition leaders. The fiery retired general said talks on linking up with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, had produced no agreement on a joint ticket for the polls.
He said time was running out for a deal between the three men, the most prominent figures in the disparate opposition that helped end Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
Aoun told Voice of Lebanon radio he would run for a seat in the June 12 ballot to choose representatives for Mount Lebanon, a mixed Druze, Christian and Shiite district in the center of the country.
“I will announce in the coming hours ... my alliances and joint lists,” Aoun said. “We will continue discussions with (Hariri’s) Future bloc even if the subject were to be closed with Mr. Walid Jumblatt.”
Jumblatt, whose Druze power base is in Mount Lebanon, has been reluctant to join forces with Aoun, a former civil war foe, wary of his popularity among Christians in the area. The two men have exchanged harsh words in recent weeks.
