Voters in Beirut and Beqaa will head to the polls Sunday to elect the Municipal members and the Mukhtars.
Zahle, the bride of the Bekaa Valley may witness the hottest electoral battle.
Phalange MP Elie Marouni, a Zahle native said Saturday that he expects the municipal election battle in Zahle this weekend to be “extremely fierce.”
“It could be considered the mother of all battles in Lebanon,” he added.
Marouni accused his political rival, Popular Bloc leader Elias Skaff, of turning the Zahle vote into “a political battle,” in an effort to compensate for his defeat in the 2009 parliamentary elections.
The number of eligible voters in Beirut is 453,971. They will be electing 24 municipal members who in turn elect one of them as the mayor.
Despite the fact that the number of Muslim voters in Beirut ( 271 500 0r 60 % of eligible voters ) is higher than Christian voters , it was agreed that the Christians and Muslims will have an equal share in the municipal membership.
Beirut will be one electoral district for municipal membership , unlike the parliamentary elections , where Beirut was divided into 3 electoral districts .
Beirut voters will also be electing 107 Mukhtars this Sunday
Both Hezbollah and Free Patriotic Movement which is headed by MP Michel Aoun decided to boycott the municipal elections in Beirut but will participate in the Mukhtar elections.
Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri who formed the “Beirut Unity ” list tried to reach a consensus deal in Beirut with Aoun, but Aoun’s demands were reportedly impossible to meet.
In Beqaa valley the number of eligible voters is 551638. They will be electing 1938 Municipal members for 155 municipalities. They will also be electing 476 Mukhtars.
The election last Sunday in Mt Lebanon was described as “smooth”. Lebanese are hoping that the elections this Sunday in Beirut and Beqaa will be just as peaceful
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