By Heba Nasser in Sour, Lebanon -- middleeasteye.net -- The electoral aesthetic across south Lebanon is a glaring display of the deep-rooted dominance of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. All along highways and side roads, the serene faces of Shia leaders and their candidates look on from posters as people drive deeper southward. “Your trust is our responsibility,” proclaims one slogan perched high at the entrance of Abbasiyeh, a town a handful of kilometres away from Lebanon's southern coast. There’s no question that the Shia heavyweight parties are predicted to win the majority of votes in south Lebanon on Sunday. But a lot has changed in the four years since Lebanon’s last elections: a popular uprising and catastrophic economic collapse, to name a few. That upheaval has led to rumblings of dissatisfaction across Hezbollah and Amal’s stronghold, and the parties themselves have taken notice.

Despite their assured electoral hold, for weeks now the parties have been contacting southern constituents - even those most loyal to them - to ensure that they will be voting on Sunday, in a push never seen previously. But like all parties that make up the oligarchy that has run Lebanon into the ground, they are increasingly associated with the country’s breakdown, and many in the south have started expressing disenchantment with the factions they have traditionally supported and repeatedly voted for. How that dissatisfaction is expressed is another matter. Lebanese voters have a habit of calling for change only to vote for their traditional parties when at the polling booth. Yet many southerners told Middle East Eye that faced with today’s corruption, stasis, and economic meltdown, they plan to boycott or cast blank ballots.

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

أخيرًا بَقّهَا السيد حسن نصرالله: "الجنوبُ والبقاعُ والشمالُ وعكّار أطرافٌ تَـمَّ إلحاقُها بلبنانَ الكبير عامَ 1920" (09 أيار 2022). لكنَّ سماحتَه تناسى أمرين: الأوّل أنَّ هذه المناطقَ استُعيدَت ولم يَتِم السطوُ عليها وإلحاقُها بالقوّة بلبنان. والثاني، وهو سابقٌ ومُتمِّمٌ للأوّل: أنَّ المجلسَ التمثيليَّ اللبنانيَّ، المتعدِّدَ الطوائفِ المسيحيّةِ والإسلاميّةِ، اتّخذَ في أيّار 1919 قرارًا طالبَ به مؤتمرَ الصُلحِ المنعَقِدَ في باريس "الاعترافَ باستقلالِ لبنان في حدودِه الطبيعيّة".

إنَّ التشكيكَ بوِحدةِ الأمّةِ اللبنانيّة يُوحي بأنَّ الكِيانَ اللبنانيَّ مصطنَعٌ ومركَّبٌ وفاقدُ الشرعيّةِ التاريخيّة ومُحلَّلٌ تفكيكُه. نَفهم الآنَ أكثرَ لماذا يَرفضُ حزبُ الله وسوريا ترسيمَ الحدودِ اللبنانيّةِ/السوريّةِ وضبطَها. إذا كان الأمرُ كذلك، لِــمَ ولِمَن استُشِهدَ أطيبُ شبابِ الجنوبِ والبقاع؟ وما قيمةُ مقاومتِك، يا سيد حسن، لتحريرِ الجَنوب والبقاع الغربي؟ وما لكَ ولنا بعدُ بمزارعَ شِبعا وتِلالِ كفرشوبا؟ وما لكَ ولنا بمربّعاتِ النفطِ والغاز في بحرِ الجَنوب؟ أَرْجِعْ هذه المناطق إلى سوريا لتَتمتّع بربوعِ الشام ونسيمِ البِردَوْني، ودَعْ سوريا تُقاوم في سبيلِها مثلما قاومَت لاسترجاعِ الجولان.

وطنية – دان “لقاء الجمهورية” في بيان، “جريمة اغتيال المراسلة الإعلامية في قناة الجزيرة الشهيدة شيرين أبو عاقلة عن سابق تصور وتصميم …

By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: With Lebanon’s crucial parliamentary elections on Sunday expected to go down to the wire, candidates and party supporters have been accused of trying to buy their way to victory by offering cash bribes to undecided voters. A Shiite voter in Beirut’s second constituency told Arab News that he had been offered $300 if he and his family agreed to vote for a particular businessman. The man, who asked to be identified only as Mohammed, said: “Supporters campaigning for their parties call me every day to ask who I will be voting for. I have no idea how they got my number. Some offer ration cards, others money, to either vote for them, or even boycott the elections or cast a blank ballot.” Mohammed, who has no links with the Amal Movement or Hezbollah, said he is unlikely to vote. “All the parties in power had the opportunity to fulfill their promises, but they have left their people mired in their misery. We will not re-elect them.”

Electoral bribery has long been a problem in Lebanon, despite laws banning the practice, but has become more widespread and visible with the collapse of the national currency and decline in living conditions. Now, if rumors from the money exchange black market are to be believed, the exchange rate will drop ahead of the elections as parties attempt to buy votes using US currency. One money changer, who declined to be named, told Arab News: “Electoral spending is expected to rise during the next few days as parties attempt to buy the largest number of votes, through direct bribes.” People in Beirut have reported that money changers have been stopping passers-by in the street to ask if they want to exchange their dollars.