Daily Star.com.lb, Several dozen people gathered outside a Future Movement office in Beirut’s Al-Tariq al-Jadideh area Thursday to demand payments. A
source told The Daily Star that the protesters were staff hired to
campaign for the Future Movement’s “Beirutis’ List” in Sunday’s
municipal elections in the city. Protesters accused the party’s
general coordinator for Beirut Bachir Itani of receiving their payments
and delaying their delivery, the source added, saying the demonstrators
will hold a larger rally in the same area at 6:00 p.m.However,
Al-Jadeed television broadcast hidden video recorded by one of its
reporters alleging that the protesters were voters who were promised payments for backing the Future list.

The
video showed about 30 or 40 people holding up papers and their identity
cards to men on a balcony in the Qasqas neighborhood. Al-Jadeed said it will broadcast the video in full during its evening broadcast at 7:50 p.m. The
“Beirutis’ List” swept the city’s local elections despite a strong
showing by a rival secular group, Beirut Madinati (Beirut My City), on
Sunday.

The Future Movement list was headed by incoming mayor Jamal Itani.

The official results showed that the Beirutis’ List won about 15,000 votes more than Beirut Madinati.

The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) said Monday it recorded 647 violations and incidents of harassment during the elections in Beirut and east Lebanon.

In
a report, the monitor said 425 of the total violations, or nearly
two-thirds of them, took place in Beirut, while 222 occurred in the
Bekaa Valley and the Baalbek-Hermel district.

The nature of the
violations included bribes, pressure on voters, promoting candidate
lists in and around polling stations, the interference of security
forces or other officials during voting and vote counts, and preventing
observers from entering polling stations, among others.

In remarks Thursday, Hariri hailed Sunday’s vote as a victory for democracy.

“Lebanese people proved few days ago that democracy is still strong,” he said, according to a statement released by his office.

He
said he hoped that the elections will prove that the people, state
institutions and the presidency shouldn’t “be taken hostage anymore.”

“We appreciate democracy and seek the establishment of a strong and stable state,” Hariri said.

The
remarks came during a luncheon attended by Defense Minister Samir
Moqbel, Future parliamentary bloc head MP Fouad Siniora, Environment
Minister Mohammad Machnouk and several other officials, including the
EU’s ambassador to Lebanon, Christina Lassen.