Congratulations from khazen.org to Dr. Cheikh Farid Elias el Khazen for being nominated as the Lebanese Ambassador at the Vatican by elnashra …

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the dailystar.com.lb –The Constitutional Court is set to convene Thursday to consider an appeal brought forth Tuesday by MP Sami Gemayel against …

The Daily Star BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun in a televised speech Wednesday evening called on the Lebanese public to exercise their right to vote and reject sectarianism, days before thousands of expatriates head to the polls for parliamentary elections. The president warned voters against those “who foment feelings of sectarianism and fanaticism because they undermine the stability of the country.” He told voters not to the give their support to candidates who offer money in return for their ballots, “because those who buy you will eventually sell you and those who sell the citizen will sell the country just as easily.” Aoun also said to “beware of those who launch campaigns based on the negative aspects of others and who only resort in their political speeches to defamation, slander and rumor without really having a concrete project to showcase.” The full text of the speech: To the Lebanese men and women, in Lebanon and abroad, You will be invited to vote in a few days, nine years after the last [parliamentary] elections, during which Lebanon has seen major events including the scourge of terrorism that has hit the Middle East. Our country, by its strength, was able to combat terrorism, remained intact, and regained its security and stability. After the presidential elections, it was normal to adopt a new law for the legislative elections, as promised in my inaugural speech. This new electoral law guarantees the fairest representation to all the components of the Lebanese people, be it the majority or the minority, and also grants, for the first time, the right to vote to the Lebanese diaspora wherever it may be. In addition to the effective representation, this law determines the political choice through the closed list. Through this choice, it is now possible for the voter to show his personal appreciation of the candidates in the selected list by giving his preferential vote to the candidate he deems the best. However, the reverse of the medal, as pointed out by almost all observers, is a conflict that has emerged between members of the same list to obtain the preferential vote. However, this fact is not attributable to the law per se, but rather to the candidates themselves. Indeed, the law is the framework that gives voters the freedom of choice, while the conflict is due to the lack of cooperation between members of the same list or to the fact that they are still not used to be part of a positive competition. Another downside that has emerged recently is the decline of the political discourse, and the most dangerous is that it is currently moving towards feeding fanaticism.