Voters queue to cast their ballots. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A number of voters on Sunday said they had been paid or offered money by candidates, or were hoping to get paid.
Here’s what we know:
• In Beirut’s Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood, part of the Beirut II constituency, 65-year-old widow Amina says she was paid LL1.5 million (a little over $50 at the recent exchange rate on the parallel market) to vote for a candidate. “I would not have voted otherwise, I don’t trust anyone,” she said, adding that “everyone I know is desperate" and the politicians are "all crooks so they might as well give us some of the money they stole from us.”
• In the Chouf, a voter who asked to remain anonymous said that parties were giving between LL1 million lira and $200, depending on family size and how needy they are. Other buy-offs included repaying debts and covering tuition fees as well as food aid boxes, the source said, noting that Sunnis in particular were being targeted to try to increase their turnout.
• At Murr Tower in Amaret Chalhoub, Zalka, Hussein Mahmoud Safwan from Hermel showed up with some 20 identity cards, which he said he hopes “will cover the cost of transport.” He said the Safwan family has 300 votes. “We have voted in Burj Hammoud for Murr since forever," he said. "Our friendship goes back a long way.”
• Ahead of the elections, voters in multiple districts reported political parties handing out everything from grocery vouchers to hair styling, as well as, in some cases, cash for votes. Given the economic crisis, election observers told L’Orient Today, the dollar price of a vote has decreased.
• On Sunday, election monitors and L’Orient Today’s correspondents reported seeing party delegates accompanying voters into voting booths, in some cases under the pretense that the voters were illiterate or had a disability requiring assistance.
