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CanWest News Service, Canada
May 24, 2005 Tuesday
Lebanese voting fraught with tension
by Matthew Fisher, CanWest News Service
BEIRUT
BEIRUT -- Unlike some reluctant Canadians, who were happy to avoid a
federal election next month, Lebanese voters are ecstatic to be going
to the polls in parliamentary elections that begin on May 29 and end
on June 19.
It seems almost everyone here agrees with U.S. President George W.
Bush that democracy is an idea worth trying, especially since
February's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, which
became the catalyst for this Sunday's vote.
However, Lebanon's elections are fraught with the complex ethnic and
sectarian tensions that have always arisen in a country notorious for
its long history of communal fighting.
The voting will be held in four stages beginning with Beirut.
Lebanon's sizable Christian minority think the elections, although
backed by the UN and supported by the Bush White House, are skewed
against them.
Several prominent Christian religious leaders have complained their
communities' chances are doomed because the elections are being held
according to a complicated script overseen by Syria five years ago
that reserves more seats for Muslims than Christians.
Neighbouring Syria has been widely accused of complicity in Hariri's
death, which triggered huge anti-Syrian protests. Damascus only
withdrew its troops recently under intense pressure from the U.S. and
Europe.
Despite their misgivings, the Christian community, which is itself
divided among Maronite, Catholic and Orthodox Armenian and Greek
factions, badly wants these elections because they want a new
government that has far fewer ties to Syria.
"Christians must vote en masse in order to be heard," said
24-year-old shop clerk Tania Kikano who is a Maronite, an Eastern
Rite sect with links to the papacy in Rome.
"It is something every Christian understands. We have to deal with
what we have here, not what we want."
For their part, Shia Muslims, who are Lebanon's largest and fastest
growing population bloc, fear a new electoral law may be in place
after this summer's vote, giving them less political power than their
numbers merit.
"We badly need this election and naturally hope good things will come
from it," furniture merchant Raif Kiaik said before laughing out loud
at Christian unease.
GRAPHIC:
Photo: Darko Vojinovic, AP; Men sell fruit and vegetables in front of
a building covered with pictures of Lebanon's slain former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri, in Beiru. Hariri's son Saad is heading a
coalition of candidates running in Lebanon's parliamentary elections
scheduled to start on May 29.
May 24, 2005 Tuesday
Lebanese voting fraught with tension
by Matthew Fisher, CanWest News Service
BEIRUT
BEIRUT -- Unlike some reluctant Canadians, who were happy to avoid a
federal election next month, Lebanese voters are ecstatic to be going
to the polls in parliamentary elections that begin on May 29 and end
on June 19.
It seems almost everyone here agrees with U.S. President George W.
Bush that democracy is an idea worth trying, especially since
February's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, which
became the catalyst for this Sunday's vote.
However, Lebanon's elections are fraught with the complex ethnic and
sectarian tensions that have always arisen in a country notorious for
its long history of communal fighting.
The voting will be held in four stages beginning with Beirut.
Lebanon's sizable Christian minority think the elections, although
backed by the UN and supported by the Bush White House, are skewed
against them.
Several prominent Christian religious leaders have complained their
communities' chances are doomed because the elections are being held
according to a complicated script overseen by Syria five years ago
that reserves more seats for Muslims than Christians.
Neighbouring Syria has been widely accused of complicity in Hariri's
death, which triggered huge anti-Syrian protests. Damascus only
withdrew its troops recently under intense pressure from the U.S. and
Europe.
Despite their misgivings, the Christian community, which is itself
divided among Maronite, Catholic and Orthodox Armenian and Greek
factions, badly wants these elections because they want a new
government that has far fewer ties to Syria.
"Christians must vote en masse in order to be heard," said
24-year-old shop clerk Tania Kikano who is a Maronite, an Eastern
Rite sect with links to the papacy in Rome.
"It is something every Christian understands. We have to deal with
what we have here, not what we want."
For their part, Shia Muslims, who are Lebanon's largest and fastest
growing population bloc, fear a new electoral law may be in place
after this summer's vote, giving them less political power than their
numbers merit.
"We badly need this election and naturally hope good things will come
from it," furniture merchant Raif Kiaik said before laughing out loud
at Christian unease.
GRAPHIC:
Photo: Darko Vojinovic, AP; Men sell fruit and vegetables in front of
a building covered with pictures of Lebanon's slain former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri, in Beiru. Hariri's son Saad is heading a
coalition of candidates running in Lebanon's parliamentary elections
scheduled to start on May 29.