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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanon Gearing up for Elections tomorrow |
| 2009-06-07 |
| Polls will open in less than 24 hours for Lebanon's parliamentary elections, and civil servants are preparing polling stations and ballot boxes for Sunday's crucial vote. International election monitors, including former president Jimmy Carter, will be overseeing the voting process. Lebanese civil servants, who oversee polling stations have been dispatched to their assigned posts across the country, and paper ballots, along with plastic ballot boxes have been expedited to each electoral district. Beirut's acting governor, Naseef Kaloush told reporters that all systems were go in the capital when polling begins Sunday. There have been complaints, however, in other far-flung electoral districts such as the West Bekaa, bordering Syria. One teacher, who is in charge of a polling station in Baalbek Hermel complained that the "situation is chaotic." At another polling station near the Christian Bekaa Valley town of Zahle, the situation appeared under control, with security forces guarding the area in an armed personnel carrier. Lebanon's top political leaders, including those of the pro-Western March 14th movement such as Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, former president Amin Gemayel and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri all went on TV urging supporters to vote. There have been some charges of unfair election tactics, including the forging of national ID cards. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud insisted to reporters that he thinks such forging is difficult, if not impossible. |
| Posted by:Steve White |