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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
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