Election Day - upto 5:12pm Beirut Time

6am

The day began at 6am when I set off to Zahle. Going through Sassine in Beirut a heavy military presence was evident. There was a smooth flow of traffic on the way and on arriving at Zahle a military presence was notable at the entrance to the town but not heavily throughout the centre.

7:30am

In Zahle voters were beginning to trickle through to the polling stations. Support for the two political factions March 8 + FPM and March 14 was highly visible, with supporters handing out their pre-printed ballots to supporters. The town was calm and apart from the chaotic parking and traffic all appeared to be running smoothly. Supporters from both coalitions were both happy however, this was first thing in the morning! Taxis were a noticeable addition to the scenery in Zahle I saw a several Hello Taxis transporting to the party headquarters of Skaff voters who I assume have been brought from abroad to vote.

10:30 am

Made way back to Beirut, again traffic was running smoothly and apart from supporters doing the usual contest with flags and political hand signals (maybe a will provide a guide to these one day!) all was calm.

11:30 am

Went over to the Dahiya to see what is happening in this part of town. All is calm and well organized. On the way going through the old airport road was nice to see Amal and Future supporters mingling (more or less).

12:30pm

Went to Beirut One, Sodeco, and saw that at lot of movement was occurring at Beydoun street. There I witnessed lots of army trying to control a situation between Nadim Gemayel supporters and FPM. Nadim Gemayel's sister (who I do not know the name of so someone please inform me if you know) trying to assist her brother's supporters but was being kept away. Then a man was forcefully removed, without too much resistance, by two army personnel that was cheered by FPM supporters. Another man was also arrested but was unable to see clearly what went on. The army quickly maintained calm and even allowed voters to continue voting while trying to establish full security.

Away from my personal experience

Interior Minister Baroud announced that by 3pm voter turnout was at 40% compared to 2005 where voter turnout was 45% in total and confirmed that significant security incidents have not occurred and traffic did not prove to be an issue.

At 5:12pm so far so good.

The risk of violence

The risk of violence in Lebanon is an ever present threat and with the prospect of a tightly contested election many are scared of the prospect that the electoral competition could become violent. Recently there have been a few minor secutiry incidents but it has not gripped Lebanon as some media reports have suggested. The main incidents have been shots fired while prominent candidates were delivering speeches and the break in at Ibrhaim Kanaan's parents house (Kanaan has posted pictures of the damage).

There have been several incidents of billboards being vandalized either by being ripped down (as with the FPM candidate pictured) or being burnt (as with the Future poster). However, as long as the frustrations are meted out on billboards not too many people will mind.

The saga continues

The cabinet failed yesterday to elect the minimum five members needed for the Constitutional Council as talks collapsed over the appointment of the governors of Beirut and Mount Lebanon and the general director of political affairs in the interior ministry. Sleiman, according to Now Lebanon, stated that the completion of the Constitutional Council “will be discussed by the Council of Ministers in ten days’ time in an extraordinary meeting, if need be.”

Interestingly showing how international observers presence can have an affect on the local political process Defense Minister Elias al-Murr stressed the importance of appointing the governors of Beirut and Mount Lebanon “because the international monitors [for the elections] consider the vacancy of these positions to be a major problem for the organization of the elections,” according to As-Safir.

More worrying though is that while the political deadlock continues over ensuring the elections are run correctly reports of violence are occurring. The FPM claim, "an armed gang stormed an office of the Free Patriotic Movement in Mazboud," and reports that "two Future Movement banners were set on fire in Beirut using Molotov bombs early" this morning.

Party Slogans - FPM

The election slogans from General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement:

This poster says, "No future without change". The poster that is ripped is imitating the Future Movements campaign poster.

Translation "So all of your votes can either be right right or wrong wrong". This is playing on the fact that the FPM slogan is a tick.