Candidates ready to challenge poll results as deadline looms
With the deadline to lodge election complaints looming, candidates from the Metn”s opposing March 14-Independent and March 8 lists are primed to challenge what each claim to be flawed results. Tuesday is the last day to officially contest results from the June 7 parliamentary elections with the Constitutional Council, the only body with the authority to adjudicate post-election disputes, and members from or sources close to both political blocs told The Daily Star Monday that complaints would be filed before the deadline expires.
"We are planning to contest," said March 14″s defeated Greek Orthodox candidate, Elias Mokhaiber. "We still have 48 hours, so any time in the next two days. "The main idea is that there have been many causes that would justify recourse at the Constitutional [Council]. We have selected a few of these causes."
Among other complaints, Mokhaiber named bribery and violations of media coverage laws as principal reasons for behind challenge.
Despite the March 14 majority”s national victory, independent powerbroker Michel Murr and the Phalange party”s Sami Gemayel were the only candidates to break the opposition”s Metn list. The six remaining seats went to the March 8 opposition”s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), led by Michel Aoun, or its allies, including the popular Armenian Tashnag party.
Speaking with The Daily Star Monday, Gemayel also confirmed that losing candidates on the majority list would file complaints. "I”m not doing it," he said. "I know my co-listers are. I don”t know if they are doing it today or tomorrow."
The FPM also plans to contest the vote. "Ghassan Rahbani [the opposition”s defeated Greek Orthodox candidate] will contest the victory of Michel Murr," said a source close to the FPM.
The contestation will highlight instances of bribery and intimidation, the source said, notably the case of Syriac priest of Elias Akari. Last month Aoun”s OTV television station aired an audio tape in which a voice said to be Murr”s threatened Akari over the elections and loans, reminding the priest of his sons position as defense minister.
Murr has sued OTV over the tape and Akari has filed a suit against Murr.
The source was uncertain over whether the opposition”s defeated Maronite candidate Pierre Achkar would challenge Gemayel”s victory.
Following the tightly fought polls, both Murr and MP Michel Aoun pledged to challenge the results in the Christian battleground district.
In mid-June, Murr, citing alleged irregularities in the Armenian vote, vowed to challenge the Metn”s results.
"Six MPs from the March 14-Independent Salvation List should win in the Metn district," he said, noting a large jump in Armenian participation and a number of forged IDs that his election staff is said to have found.
Aoun offered a more direct challenge to Murr”s victory. "We will file a contestation before the Constitutional Council against MP Michel Murr on charges of intimidation and threats," he said days after the polls.
The Metn, Lebanon”s largest exclusively Christian electoral district, was seen as one of the election”s most pivotal contests and was fiercely fought over. And ahead of the polls, former alliances broke down.
In the 2005 parliamentary elections and 2007 by-elections, Murr had been aligned with Aoun and the Tashnag party, but that alliance ended before June with Murr deciding to run on the March14-Independent list. The Tashnag, having strong ties to both Murr and Aoun, opted to support the opposition list with the addition of Murr.
Apart from the Metn, Minister Elias Skaff, an opposition leader whose list was swept in Zahle, is also rumored to be preparing a challenge before Tuesday”s deadline.