Elections Scandals, Violations & Security problems - Page 2 - The Orange Room

loubnaniTO

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecce homo

عصابة مسلحة تقتحم مركز التيار الوطني الحر في مزبود وتضرم النار فيه حارس المركز أحمد ربابي ينجو من رصاص المسلحين وعائلة فادي قولاغاسي يتم إنقاذها عبر سطح المبنى
tayyar.org

what is Baroud and the ISF waiting for? till someone gets killed? does it have to be someone killed from March 14 for them to start taking measures???

Libnan Ot3et Sama

Quote:

Originally Posted by loubnaniTO

what is Baroud and the ISF waiting for? till someone gets killed? does it have to be someone killed from March 14 for them to start taking measures???

LoubnaniTO

i've said that the government guys are thinking they are acting in a Hollywood film( police always at the end of the story)
actually, their security strategy is : No prevention >> DEATH>> ACTION or Investigation ( meaning NOTHING)

ecce homo

القاء قنبلة في الأوزاعي وسلب سيارة في زحلة وحرق لافتات إنتخابية
tayyar.org

ecce homo

بالجرم المشهود : اعتداء جديد للكتائب على لوحات الكتلة الشعبية

أقدم المدعو ميشال زغيب من أنصار الكتائب اللبنانية وفي وضح النهار على نزع صور عائدة للمرشح عن المقعد الأرثوذكسي في زحلة النائب الدكتور كميل المعلوف في ساحة زحلة ورفع العلم الكتائبي مكانها في محاولة منه لجر أنصار الكتلة الشعبية للاقتتال معه.

وقد تقدّم النائب كميل المعلوف بشكوى الى قوى الأمن الداخلي التي بدأت التحريات لالقاء القبض على المدعو ميشال زغيب.
في الصورة ميشال زغيب ينزع صور المرشح كميل المعلوف ويرفع علم الكتائب .

ecce homo

Acts of violence grip Lebanon ahead of polls
Despite calls for calm, partisans turn from electioneering to vandalism, arson, violence
By Nicholas Kimbrell
Daily Star staff
Friday, May 15, 2009

BEIRUT: For months, Lebanese officials and political parties have called for calm during the country's June elections, but with just 23 days until the pivotal polls, some partisans have turned from electioneering to vandalism, arson and violence. Across the country party offices have been torched, political posters defaced and candidates attacked and threatened.

Early Thursday morning, unidentified assailants set fire to the Mazboud offices of the March 8 opposition's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the car of an Islamic Labor Front party member. On Wednesday night, shots were fired outside of a restaurant in Jbeil, where Fares Soueid, the coordinator of March 14's General Secretariat, was delivering an address.

The Interior Ministry has taken precautions to prevent election-related violence - Minister Ziyad Baroud reiterated Tuesday that a comprehensive security plan had been adopted by the Central Security Council - but attacks have continued and with increasing regularity.

Security analyst and retired Lebanese Armed Forces General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star that the level of violence could be much worse. "I think it's a part of the electoral game," he said, adding that some parties benefited in the media when their candidates or institutions were targeted.

However, he acknowledged that the frequency of vandalism was an indicator of the high tension ahead of the polls, which will decide who runs Lebanon's next government.

FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan's family home in Jounieh was set ablaze Wednesday. "There was a break-in; they set fire to the residence ... it was not a small fire, it took the whole residence," Kanaan told The Daily Star.

When asked if he thought the attack was politically motivated, the March 8 deputy acknowledged that it was likely. "It's very hard not to think like this," he said, noting a series of attacks targeting FPM offices and representatives.

"Who is responsible? How can this happen?" he asked. "I'm only asking the question, I wish it was not connected."

But Kanaan added that Baroud was overseeing the file personally and that accusations were inappropriate until the investigation was finished.

The candidate that has perhaps faced the most violence and intimidation ahead of the polls is Ahmad al-Assaad. The head of the Lebanese Option Gathering, Assad is a March 14-aligned Shiite, running against Lebanon's traditional Shiite powerbrokers Hizbullah and Amal in their strongholds in south Lebanon.

"We've had about 27 cars that have been burned, about seven incidents of houses attacked. Personally, I have been attacked two times, once in Taybeh and once in Tibnin," he told The Daily Star, adding that each incident was an effort to intimidate his party's supporters.

Assaad said members of Hizbullah and Amal had called him and his supporters "Zionists," which gave "cover to the acts of violence" against his party.

Over the weekend, Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, the head of the Amal movement, called on his supporters not to attack political opponents, warning that such actions could undermine an electoral victory.

But regardless of where the attacks take place and who they target, Hanna noted that each act was a wake up call for Lebanon's security forces.

"All of these incidents will give an alert call to the ISF [Internal Security Forces] and election monitoring teams to take precautions and plan for this on the day of the elections," he said.