A Lebanese citizen checks for her voting information in a polling station. (Credit: Raphaëlle Macaron/OLJ)
BEIRUT — While official votes are still to be announced, some parliament candidates and politicians took to social media to share their input on the 2022 legislative elections on Monday morning, with some even announcing their defeat or win.
Here’s what we know:
• Jamil Sayyed, MP who was sanctioned by the U.S. earlier in October 2021, tweeted: “Fortunately for Samir Geagea in the Baalbek-Hermel district, our list was concerned with inflating some of its members with preferential votes to increase their size, instead of allocating those votes to candidate [Aaqid] Hadsheti, which would have inevitably led to the candidate Antoine Habashi’s loss and it is also fortunate for Geagea that they forgot about him and focused their efforts on downsizing Jamil Sayyed…Congratulations.”
• Arab Tawhid Party head Wiam Wahhab on Monday appeared to acknowledge his electoral loss in the Mount Lebanon IV constituency, tweeting that he regrets “the betrayal we’ve suffered from those who believed the lies and chose humiliation over freedom…Congratulations for the noose around your neck and thank you for freeing me,” he also wrote, adding, “Update us in a year about the achievements of your deputies.”
• Abed al-Rahman Bizri confirmed, in an interview with VDL that the “We Vote for Change” list secured him and Osama Saad seats in Saida, with the possibility of winning a third seat in Jezzine, according to the preliminary unofficial results. He pointed out the “need for a real gathering of representatives calling for real reform,” saying “re-awakening the country requires cooperation, and the results throughout the country have shown that the mood of the Lebanese people and their orientations tend towards reform.”
• Former Minister Youssef Salameh tweeted: “The results of the elections confirmed the need to abolish political sectarianism to disrupt the duo's [Hezbollah and Amal] monopoly on Shiite representation. Choosing a Druze, Sunni or Shiite for the presidency of the parliament and the government, and another "Ayoub Tabet" for the presidency, brings back democracy its meanings. It enhances political diversity within each sect and prevents the transformation of state institutions into sectarian farms.
• Meanwhile, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Walid al-Bukhari, tweeted: “O you who believe, if you help, God will help you and make you stand firm.” Bukhari's tweet was posted at the start of the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections, and as the Lebanese Forces led the results with the largest Christian bloc, amid a significant loss for Hezbollah's allies.
• Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statment that his government “succeeded in holding the elections despite sharp political division and tensions,” adding that “discrepancies and abuses that were recorded on election day were possible to resolve through legal and political measures.”
• “The Free Patriotic Movement was not at war against the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party, the Kataeb, or even Amal. It had been at war with the United States, Israel, and their allies since Oct. 17, 2019,” said Gebran Bassil, head of FPM Sunday night.
• “It is clear that the FPM will have a large group in Parliament,” he added. “We obviously have to wait for the final figures before commenting on the results, but it is certain that the FPM emerged victorious from the battle and will have deputies across Lebanon.”
• LF leader, Samir Geagea said in an interview with al-Arabiya TV that “the first figures in all Christian regions show progress [for his party] against the FPM…this means that Christian public opinion which was dominated by Hezbollah for 17 years has changed.”