Ballots strewn on the ground during a chaotic election to the Order of Dentists, Nov. 28, 2021. (Credit: Screenshot of a video sent to L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Order of Dentists elections, which were taking place Sunday alongside the Order of Pharmacists’ elections, were canceled after clashes erupted among voters while the counting of votes was taking place, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent on site.
Here’s what we know:
• Dentists voting at the BIEL exhibition center Sunday had a choice between three lists of candidates: “My order, my revolution," supported by the Kataeb party and represented by Emilie Hayek; a list belonging to candidate Elias Maalouf supported by Hezbollah and the Amal movement; and a third list called "The dentist’s revolt,” which claims to be part of the Oct. 17 movement and is chaired by Ronald Younes, who is known to be close to the Lebanese Forces.
• A fourth list, chaired by Raymond Khoury, withdrew from the elections on Saturday. Khoury’s list was supported by the Free Patriotic Movement and after its withdrawal it called on its backers to vote for Younes’ list.
• According to information provided by L’Orient Today’s journalist on site, the first round to elect members of the order began peacefully, but then shortly afterward clashes between voters began and criticism on the manual count of the votes had been raised this caused disputes which led to voters throwing ballot boxes on the floor.
• Given the disruption, the current president of the order, head of the Beirut's Dentist Association, Roger Rubeiz then announced the cancellation of the elections.