The Beirut municipality building in downtown. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
After Mount Lebanon, the North and Akkar, voters in the governorates (mohafazat) of Beirut, Bekaa and Baalbeck-Hermel are set to elect their mayors (mokhtars) and municipal councils on Sunday, May 18. Over a million voters are involved in this third (and largest) round of voting. In most cases, the competition is dictated by strictly local considerations. However, politics sometimes takes over, especially in large cities and in the current context of increased polarization around Hezbollah and its weapons. This is especially true in Beirut, where the prolonged absence of the main Sunni leader, Saad Hariri, and his Future Movement makes the competition even more uncertain. In the Bekaa, the battle between different poles in Zahle also promises to be tight, while in Baalbeck, civil society dares to challenge the electoral stronghold...
After Mount Lebanon, the North and Akkar, voters in the governorates (mohafazat) of Beirut, Bekaa and Baalbeck-Hermel are set to elect their mayors (mokhtars) and municipal councils on Sunday, May 18. Over a million voters are involved in this third (and largest) round of voting. In most cases, the competition is dictated by strictly local considerations. However, politics sometimes takes over, especially in large cities and in the current context of increased polarization around Hezbollah and its weapons. This is especially true in Beirut, where the prolonged absence of the main Sunni leader, Saad Hariri, and his Future Movement makes the competition even more uncertain. In the Bekaa, the battle between different poles in Zahle also promises to be tight, while in Baalbeck, civil society dares to challenge the electoral stronghold...
