Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

LEBANON: Expats Fly Home For Elections, But On Whose Tab?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • LEBANON: Expats Fly Home For Elections, But On Whose Tab?

    LEBANON: EXPATS FLY HOME FOR ELECTIONS, BUT ON WHOSE TAB?

    Los Angeles Times
    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyon d/2009/06/the-atmosphere-at-beiruts-rafik-hariri-i nternational-airport-was-unusually-festive-for-a-t hursday-afternoon-as-hundreds-of-gi.html
    June 5 2009

    The atmosphere at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport was
    unusually festive for a Thursday afternoon as hundreds of gift-laden
    friends and family awaited the arrival of their loved ones, many of
    whom are returning to vote in the hotly contested general elections
    Sunday.

    The race between the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, and the
    pro-Western March 14 coalition is so tight, in fact, that many parties
    are footing the bill for their constituents to fly home and vote.

    Adon Sanjal, a 23-year-old mechanical engineer working in Dubai,
    United Arab Emirates, greeted his parents sporting a huge smile and
    a bright orange T-shirt, a nod to Free Patriotic Movement leader
    Gen. Michel Aoun.

    Sanjal, who said he paid his own fare, said many of his Lebanese
    friends in Dubai are coming home for the weekend to vote.

    "I usually come back several times a year anyway, but this time I
    came especially for the elections," he told Babylon and Beyond.

    "God willing we who support Change and Reform will win," he added,
    referring to the name of Aoun's parliamentary bloc and also the
    principles on which he campaigned, which have proved especially
    appealing to young people.

    Marwan Naim, a 34-year-old sales executive living in Kuwait, said
    he supported March 14 because he believed it offered Lebanon a more
    secure future.

    "We just want Lebanon to be a better country, like it was before,"
    he said.

    Naim also said he paid for his own ticket and had mixed feelings
    about political parties flying people in.

    "If [the parties] are only flying them in to make them vote how they
    want, then it's bad, but if they are helping people who want to come
    back anyways, then it's good," he said.

    But not everyone agreed. As foreign and Lebanese media scrambled to
    interview new arrivals, hecklers from the crowd could be heard yelling,
    "On whose tab?"

    Bassem Arab, 42, who also resides in Kuwait, said he thought the
    fierce competition for votes was a sign of improving democracy.

    "If there weren't [such competition], I wouldn't be coming back,"
    he said with a shrug.

    Of course some are in it for the free trip. A 29-year-old Armenian
    Lebanese American, who said he was flown in by a Lebanese party and
    asked that his name not be used, acknowledged in a phone interview
    that he knew little about Lebanese politics or the candidates for
    whom he was expected to vote.

    "I'd never been [to Lebanon], and there was a way to go for free,"
    he said.

    -- Meris Lutz in Beirut

    Photo: Throngs at Beirut airport await the arrival of friends and
    family members, many of whom are returning home to vote in Sunday's
    general elections. Credit: Meris Lutz
Working...
X