LEBANON: LEBANESE VOTERS PREPARE TO GO TO POLLS TO ELECT LOCAL LEADERS FOR FIRST TIME IN 35 YEARS

Record ID: 328583

  • Title: LEBANON: LEBANESE VOTERS PREPARE TO GO TO POLLS TO ELECT LOCAL LEADERS FOR FIRST TIME IN 35 YEARS
  • Date: 19th May 1998
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 19, 1998) (RTV ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS NIGHT VIEWS OF PEOPLE ATTENDING A POLITICAL MEETING AT A 'DEWANEIAH' GATHERING PLACE SET BY A CANDIDATE SUPPORTER OF PRIME MINISTER RAFIK AL-HARIRI (4 SHOTS) 0.25 2. SV/SLV DAYTIME SHOTS OF OLD MEN AND ELECTION POSTERS AT A COFFEE SHOP (4 SHOTS) 0.50 3. VARIOUS CANDIDATES PRESENT THEIR OFFICIAL CANDIDACY DOCUMENTS TO CLERKS AT GOVERNMENT OFFICE (6 SHOTS) 1.33 4. SV/SCU CANDIDATE DORI CHAMOUN, PRESIDENT OF THE OPPOSITION RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY, WHICH BOYCOTTED THE PREVIOUS ELECTIONS, SAYS: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE MUNICIPALITIES RESTORE THEIR ROLE AND INDEPENDENCE. THEY SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO BE RUN BY ELEMENTS, WHO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE GOVERNMENT..THIS IS AGAINST THE INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY. (ARABIC) (3 SHOTS) 2.01 5. VARIOUS PRIME MINISTER RAFIK AL-HARIRI AT CABINET MEETING (4 SHOTS) 2.13 6. SV MODERATE CHRISTIAN MP NASSIB LAHOUD SAYS: I BELIEVE THAT AS OF NEXT MONTH THOUSANDS OF ELECTED YOUTHS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR. THIS GIVES AN IMPORTANT BOOST AND CONSOLIDATES THE DEMOCRACTIC SYSTEM IN LEBANON.' (ARABIC) 2.37 TAYBEH VILLAGE (MAY 19, 1998) (RTV ACCESS ALL) 7. GV TAYBEH VILLAGE AND VARIOUS OF ELDERLY VILLAGERS IN SECURITY ZONE (4 SHOTS) 3.02 CHOUIT VILLAGE (MAY 19, 1998) (RTV ACCESS ALL) 8. SV/TRAVELLING SHOT ENTRANCE OF CHOUIT VILLAGE, ONE OF AT LEAST 20 VILLAGES BANNED FROM THE ELECTIONS (2 SHOTS) 3.15 AEN ATTA VILLAGE (MAY 19, 1998) (RTV ACCESS ALL) 9. SV/SCU/CU HUSSEIN ALQADI, 109-YEAR OLD MAYOR OF AEN ATTA VILLAGE IN WESTERN BEKAA, WHO HAS HELD HIS POST SINCE 1963, AT HIS HOUSE INSPECTING REAL ESTATE MAP WITH A CITIZEN, SAYS: THERE ARE SOME DIFFICULTIES. WE ARE WORKING FOR AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND I HOPE IT WILL WORK. (ARABIC) (5 SHOTS) 3.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIRUT, TAYBEH, CHOUIT, AEN ATTA, LEBANON
  • City:
  • Country: Lebanon ASIA MIDDLE EAST
  • Reuters ID: LVA1B3SVZ87BKGE9I4AMD2CDVIVC
  • Story Text: For the first time in 35 years the Lebanese are going to the polls to elect local leaders and offer a challenge to the country's top politicians.

    Complicated political alliances have been formed ahead of the elections to be held between May 24 and June 24 over four consecutive Sundays.Polling will be held in Lebanon's five regions and will lead to the election of 646 municipal councils, 2,041 mayors and 7,662 representatives.

    The last municipal poll took place in 1963.

    The signs of electoral activity are to be seen everywhere.

    Posters of thousands of candidates hang on buildings, electricity poles, traffic signs and balconies throughout the country.

    Israeli-occupied areas in south Lebanon will not be covered by the elections while at least twenty Christian and Druze villages, accused of blocking the return of war refugees and not agreeing to national reconciliation, are also banned from taking part.

    Election fever has raised hopes that local leaders will be given more power and finances to provide services in underdeveloped areas.It could also allow a wider role for the opposition in running the country.

    Hardline Christian opposition groups, which boycotted parliamentary elections in 1992 and 1996, will field candidates this time.It will mark their first entry into the election arena since the end of the civil war, which pitted Moslems against Christians.

    The election takes place against the backdrop of the Lebanese government's efforts to project an image of political stability to ease the concerns of foreign investors as it battles to bring the budget deficit under control.

    The government has come under fire for pumping billions of dollars into the reconstruction of Beirut following the civil war and ignoring poor rural areas.
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