Yassine Yassine, on the protest list, won a Sunni seat in the Bekaa II constituency. (Aziz Taher/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Not only did the pro-Syrian figures fail to achieve a tidal wave in this constituency as predicted by many observers, but one of them, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Elie Ferzli, suffered a highly symbolic defeat. Against all odds, the Bekaa II constituency (West Bekaa and Rashaya, two Sunni, one Shiite, one Druze, one Greek Orthodox and one Maronite) has seen a breakthrough of the protest movement forces, who won one of the six seats there.
The results
• The list led by Hassan Mrad, son and political heir of pro-Syrian Sunni MP Abdel Rahim Mrad, obtained 28,920 votes, which allowed it to win three seats: a Sunni seat for Hassan Mrad (9,157 votes), the Shiite seat for Kabalan Kabalan (Amal, 10,143 votes) and the Maronite seat for Charbel Maroun (Free Patriotic Movement, 3,576 votes).
• The list led by Wael Bou Faour, Druze MP for Walid Joumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party won two seats: the Druze seat went to Bou Faour (9,202 votes) and the Greek Orthodox seat to Ghassan Skaff (independent, 776).
• The main protest movement list, "Sahlouna Wal Jabal", obtained the second Sunni seat, which went to Yassin Yassin (with 6,004 votes).
What to expect next
The official turnout announced by the interior minister (42.47 percent) does not allow us to gauge the Sunni turnout. Sunni voters comprise roughly 49 percent of the electorate. However, turnout was higher than in 2018, when 46 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls.
Things to remember
• The defeat of Elie Ferzli, the controversial deputy speaker of Parliament, whose preferential votes (2,304) were half that achieved in 2018 (4,900). This setback is partly due to the fact that he distanced himself from the FPM, whose candidate won more than 3,500 votes. While it was expected that the March 8 camp would win additional seats in the absence of Saad Hariri, who boycotted the election, the score of the Mrad family is finally limited to three seats, especially thanks to the breakthrough achieved by the thawra forces. A breakthrough all the more important, especially considering that the electoral threshold in this constituency is relatively high, at 16.7 percent.
• Like other former pro-Hariri figures, Mohammad Karaaoui could not win without the support of the blue party’s leader. Karaaoui went from 8,768 votes (out of some 17,000 pro-Hariri votes in the district) to only 4,811 votes.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
