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ELECTIONS

LADE report finds vote buying, unequal airtime in Parliamentary election

LADE report finds vote buying, unequal airtime in Parliamentary election

Electoral workers sort ballots after the polls were closed during Lebanon's parliamentary election in Khiam, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon May 15, 2022. (Credit: Issam Abdallah/Reuters)

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections on Thursday released its final report on the 2022 parliamentary elections, documenting violations such as vote buying, inequality in media coverage, violence and abuse of power by local authorities and parties.

Here’s what we know:

    • In its report, LADE also criticized the Lebanese authorities’ failure to provide voting megacenters, which would have been “a huge step towards reform by relieving those who don’t wish to go to the districts [in which] they are registered to vote so that they don’t get pressured from the parties in control on the ground.”

    • The report also said that megacenters would solve the issue of transportation for those who wouldn’t vote because of how far their home districts are from their residences — “especially after the increase of fuel prices in recent months and the depreciation of the lira and the loss of expenditure power for citizens.”

    • Regarding how the 15 voting districts across Lebanon were drawn, LADE wrote that the districts “allow each sectarian leader to benefit hugely from the votes that they control in their influence areas… which means that this division violates the principle of equality between voters in different districts as it was approved by the Constitutional Council.”

    • LADE recommended that the Constitutional Council should have direct authority to examine violations of the election process, rather than relying on individuals to file complaints. LADE also recommended that the Supervisory Commission for elections, rather than the Interior Ministry, be granted full authority to monitor the race both inside and outside of Lebanon.

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections on Thursday released its final report on the 2022 parliamentary elections, documenting violations such as vote buying, inequality in media coverage, violence and abuse of power by local authorities and parties.Here’s what we know:    • In its report, LADE also criticized the Lebanese authorities’ failure to provide...