Candidates from the March 14 coalition won the majority of seats at the Lebanese American University’s Jbeil campus in Friday’s student council elections, while those from the Future Movement won more seats than any other group at the Beirut campus but failed to achieve a majority.
Taking seats on the 15-member-student council at LAU’s Beirut campus were seven students from the Future Movement, six from the March 8 coalition, one from the Progressive Socialist Party and one independent.
The PSP ran alongside the Amal Movement but not with the rest of the March 8 parties.
Hassan Harb, the independent winner, dismissed March 8 claims that he has close ties to the coalition.
“Both sides [March 8 and March 14 groups] contacted me [after I won] and tried to convince me to join them, but I refused,” Harb told The Daily Star.
“I ran as an independent candidate and will continue to be independent,” added Harb, a member of Take Back LAU Council, a secular independent group that was formed this year.
The turnout at Beirut campus, which is the largest of LAU’s two campuses, was around 45 percent. Over 4,000 students were eligible to vote there.
At the Jbeil campus, candidates from the March 14 coalition – all from the Lebanese Forces – clinched nine seats in the 15-member student council, while the other seats went to candidates from the March 8 coalition and independent students. Turnout was much higher than at the Beirut campus, reaching around 72 percent. Around 2,000 students were eligible to vote.
“The atmosphere [at both campuses] was very democratic and calm just as the administration wanted,” Christian Oussi, LAU’s executive director of Public and Media Relations, told The Daily Star.
The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections said in a statement that elections ran smoothly in both campuses. However, it said that the way voting was done at the Beirut campus’ School of Business did not ensure secrecy.
For the third year in a row, LADE repeated that polling stations at both campuses had not been equipped for the handicapped.
Speaking before polls closed, Wael Roumeyyeh, an Amal winner from the Beirut campus, said that last year’s March 8 dominated council had made significant gains, despite late elections and with only two months to work.
“They [its members] pushed for starting renovation in the cafeteria and the student center,” he said.
Roumeyyeh said that his rival list had no platform, but was only rallying voters to retake the student council from the March 8 coalition.
Rejecting these claims, Future Movement winner Bilal Ramadan said his list had many items on its agenda.
“We are mainly concerned with increasing financial aid for students since we are among the most expensive universities in Lebanon and the Middle East,” he said.
“We also plan to give the student council more powers,” he said.
Ramadan insisted that previous majority March 8 councils had not relayed students’ voices to the university. “Tuition fees increased and no one said anything,” he said.
While many at the Beirut campus voted for one of the two rival lists, others favored independent candidates.
“I actually prefer the independent [candidates] because every year the March 8 [coalition] wins and they are not really doing anything,” said Halim, a business student. “The same thing applies for the March 14 [coalition], so it is better to go for independents.”
In a cafe close to the Beirut campus, four students at a table were apathetic to the goings on, saying they did not vote. “We aren’t interested,” they said.