A voter casting her ballot in Jounieh, during the first round of municipal elections, on May 4, 2025. (Credit: Suzanne Baaklini/L'Orient Today.).
Following the election in Mount Lebanon and on the eve of the municipal elections in Northern Lebanon and Akkar, on Sunday, May 11, the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) published its second report for these 2025 municipalities.
It records anomalies and legal violations during the vote last Sunday in Mount Lebanon, as well as during the preparation of the election in Northern Lebanon and the Bekaa.
Among the most significant remarks, the "aid" that conveniently falls on the eve of the election, resembling disguised corruption, affecting equal opportunities between candidates. Examples presented by LADE include gift vouchers distributed by a candidate in Dekwane (Metn), accusations of bribery in Dennieh, and public good projects inaugurated in various regions a few weeks or days before the election... The extent of these "aids" and inaugurations of projects in a large number of regions is striking. The association notes "a lack of precise criteria to differentiate between aid and bribes intended to influence voters' choices."
LADE also denounces several attempts to use municipal resources for electoral purposes, such as the lists supported by Hezbollah and Amal in Haret Hreik, Bourj Brajneh, and Ghobeyri (southern suburbs, Mount Lebanon), which invited voters to meetings in public institutions.
Another violation of the law: sectarian discourse aimed at mobilizing on religious grounds and discrediting candidates from other communities, which is contrary to Article 74 of the electoral law 44/2017. Such practices were recorded by the association's observers by candidates in regions as diverse as Batroun (Northern Lebanon), Baalbeck, Ajaltoun in Kesrouan, or even in Minie-Dennie.
Among other violations of the law, pressures and threats seeking to influence voters and candidates. LADE noted an "increase in acts of violence and threats," reaching "the announcement of winning lists by default" in some regions. Such practices were observed in Yohmor, Nabatieh, Beirut, where candidate Soha Mneimne (Beirut Madinati) was pressured to withdraw her candidacy according to LADE, in Denniye where posters were burned, in Majdel Anjar (Bekaa) where a candidate offered to pay $10,000 to the municipal treasury in exchange for an agreement regarding his candidacy...
The other transgressions recorded by LADE concern various administrative errors.