Al Arabiya objectively relays the situation of the crucial round of elections in Mount Lebanon and Beqa'a valley

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Dubai - Al Arabiya's special news team continues its coverage of the Lebanese parliamentary elections, which started on May 29^th, 2005.  The independent news channel has succeeded in bringing Arabic viewers closer to the truth by objectively covering the first parliamentary elections in the country since the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

Thus far the elections showed Saad Al Din Al Hariri, the son of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri, winning all the seats in Beirut, while the Shiite coalition of Amal and Hizballah swept all 23 seats in the South. In the current and third round of the elections, Michel Aoun - the former commander of the Lebanese army who recently returned from exile in France - won in the north and Kesrawan. The coalition of  Hizballah won in the Beqa'a valley and the Druz leader Waleed Jumblatt winning in Al Shouf.

The election in Mount Lebanon offered a strong confrontation between the Christian coalition and Michel Aoun who won the battle as the polling stations opened their doors last Sunday 12 June, 2005 in Christian-dominated Mount Lebanon and the Beqa'a valley, the territory close to the Syrian borders.

The number of voters in both the Beqa'a and Mount Lebanon account for 1.5 million who elected 58 MPs out of a total of 262 candidates from the region. Al Arabiya covered the third round of the elections through its extensive network of reporters that were spread across all the polling stations in Mount Lebanon and Al Beqa'a valley.

In fact, Al Arabiya played an important role in providing reliable coverage and airing real life situations and events in each polling station to provide viewers with an accurate feeling inside each polling station. This made viewers aware of the various political agendas and activities of the candidates and their meetings with their constituents in different parts of Lebanon.

Also, Al Arabiya aired several documentaries covering political life and demographic composition of the population in Mount Lebanon and Al Beqa'a valley, as well as other political powers and stakeholders in the election, as well as the political figures and symbols of the country.

In this respect, Al Arabiya hosted Akram Chehayeb, member of the Democratic Gathering and Eddi Abi Al Lama'a, nominee in Al Meten area, Ziad Abas in the National Independent Movement.  In addition, several political analysts interested in the Lebanese issue were involved including as Nawaf Al Mousawi, Head of International Relations with Hizballah, Marwan Abou Fadel and Shakeeb Qartabawi, nominees of the Arslan-Aoun coalition in Ba'abda Aliya, Ziyad Majed, Deputy Chairman of the Leftist Democratic Movement, Hussein Ezz Al Deen, Member of the Politburo of Hizballah, Dawood Al Sayegh, Member of Al Mustaqbal Movement, George Nassif, Political Analyst, Salah Salem, Editor-in-Chief of Al Liwa newspaper, among many more.

Al Arabiya covered the third round of the elections with objectivity while maintaining the highest level of professionalism and neutrality in news reporting to ensure that its viewers are informed, at all times, of the various political views prevailing during the entire election process.

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For more information, please contact:
Bassem El Zein
Director
Impact Porter Novelli
Public Relations
PO Box: 19791
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Tel: ++ 9714 330 4030 Ext. 421
Fax: ++ 9714 330 4031
E-mail: b.elzein@ipn.ae

© Press Release 2005