NEWS
Skaff Plans to Challenge Electoral Process in Zahle
Agriculture Minister Elias Skaff on Tuesday said he will challenge the outcome of polls in Zahle with the Constitutional Council and said some ballots boxes were manipulated.
At a press conference, Skaff gave a list of violations during the electoral process and said the elections took place according to “financial standards not democratic ones.”
“We will file complaints (to challenge the outcome) because more than 12 ballots boxes were manipulated. Envelopes were added to some boxes in favor of the other bloc. The number of envelopes in some boxes did not match the number of voters.”
He accused the state of “bias” and criticized heads of polling stations who he said were “hand-picked to serve the opposing team’s interests.”
He also said more than 700 names were not listed in the eligible voters records.
“We had filed for a correction months ago, and the mistake was fixed. But we were surprised to find out on the day of the elections that the voters were not enlisted in the records.”
Skaff added that months before the elections “some (voters) who belonged to one sect were transferring their registries to the district of Zahle and contributed to tipping the scale” in favor of the competing team.
The minister voiced regret over a statement by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on the eve of the elections and said it “does not unite the country but helps divide it.”
While praising the army’s performance, Skaff had harsh words for some internal security officers in the Bekaa saying “they obstructed some of our supporters from entering the polling stations.”
He said the voters “simmered under the burning sun for four hours and left without casting their ballots.”
4 Comments
Add commentQuit wasting everybody's time...
by AJand accept the results of the election. All these things that he is alleging cannot be proven. How is he going to find evidence to support his claims that ballot counters were hand-picked? Secondly, there were international observers present during the entire process. In regards to the 700 voters not listed in the registry, well I guess you snooze you lose. Had they followed up on their complaint of those names not being listed in the registry than there is no way that they could have refused to put those names on there. What it sounds like, though, is that they became aware that names were missing, put the request in, and waited until election day to figure out that they were not there. It is no one's job but their own to ensure that such a request is fulfilled. Quit being a belly-aching sore loser and move on!!!
It is OK to express reservations, but
by Gebran SonsHistory does not go backward. Time to move on, accept voters wishes, and work on unifying the country.
accepting voters wishes is one thing
by Nahkaccepting electoral scams is another. when irregularities and cheating is denounced you cant answer "accept voters wishes" because that's exactly what he is contesting. in Zahle there were 16,235 Sunni votes in 2005, and 41,390 in 2009, kind of awkward don't you think?
skaff plans to challenge....
by mandarina duckthe usual complaints................. we are used to that kind of talk... Would be easier and sainer to accept like everybody else did..but loss is hard to digest for some.