Baroud: We are determined to hold the elections on time

Interior Minister Ziad Baroud held a press conference to brief the media on the upcoming municipal elections. He said:

– We are determined to hold the elections on time and implement the current municipal electoral law. Our duty as an executive power is to implement the law no matter what. I regret that the draft municipal electoral law was not adopted by the parliament. I reiterate that the reforms were not dropped, but unfortunately they will not be applied during the 2010 municipal elections.

-Holding the municipal elections on time provides stability to Lebanon, despite all the Lebanese and regional developments.

– The final touches have been put on the security plan; the electoral process requires a large number of security forces members.

– 14,000 employees will participate in organizing the electoral process and they will undergo short-term training courses.

– 7,507 candidates are running for seats in 313 municipalities in Mount

– The number of voters throughout Lebanon is 3,311,000, and they will vote in 963 municipalities.

– 400,000 IDs were completed in a short time and 57 new municipal councils have been planned since 2004

– 6.6% is the percentage of women candidates running for municipal councils

He concluded his briefing by saying: We hope to receive complaints upon the occurrence of any violations during the electoral process and 1790 is a toll-free hotline number for receiving all complaints