Lebanese political parties are accusing each other of vote buying ahead of the general elections slated to take place on June 7.
The political parties are strenuously denying giving money or services in exchange for votes, although analysts say vote buying has been the norm in previous election campaigns.
Meanwhile, Lebanese expats are heading to Lebanon in droves in order to exercise their right to vote. Many Lebanese citizens, possibly millions, are living outside the country and cannot vote if they are not on Lebanese soil.
Al-Jazeera noted a surge in the incoming traffic of passengers at Beirut International Airport, mainly from the Gulf countries. The expats’ votes could determine the outcome of next Sunday’s election.
Parties are accusing each other of giving away free plane tickets in exchange for votes, although expats deny receiving any such gifts.
The election is pitting the majority Western-backed Al-Mustaqbal bloc in the Lebanese parliament against the more hard-line bloc supported by Syria and Iran, which includes Hizbullah and Amal.
The international community, including the United States, is showing great interest in the outcome of the poll in the small country, as it will determine whether the next government will make Beirut a Western ally or part of an anti-West bloc.
Because of this, there are allegations that regional powers are trying to buy votes in order to sway the outcome of the elections in their favor and support their allies in Lebanon.
The main players in the alleged vote buying are Iran and Saudi Arabia, according to news reports.
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said last week that the U.S. would reconsider aid to Lebanon if the next government strayed from certain “fundamental principles,” a reference to the hard-line Hizbullah gaining power.
Hizbullah is a Shi’ite organization and political party, which is designated as a foreign terror organization by the U.S. State Department. The party stands a chance of winning the elections and heading the next government.
More than 3,258,000 Lebanese are registered to vote and more than 500 candidates are running for 128 parliamentary seats.
Bassam Al-Hashim, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement, said the Al-Mustaqbal bloc has been spending millions of dollars on vote buying, the Iranian satellite channel Al-‘Alam reported.
Iran supports Hizbullah, the main rival of Al-Mustaqbal, and the Free Patriotic Movement is an ally of Hizbullah.
Hashim said there was no accurate data on the money being spent in the election campaign. He accused the Mustaqbal bloc, and supporters of Sa’ad Al-Hariri, who heads the movement, of offering people incentives such as livelihood support and charity in exchange for their votes.
“These means are contemptible and make the people look like beggars,” he told Al-‘Alam. “People have reached the stage where they’re accepting this money, a result of the economic and financial policies that were adopted by Lebanese government ever since 1998 and until today, which has led to poverty among the people and brought about a debt of $50 billion.”
Rachid Fayyad, a spokesman for Al-Mustaqbal, denied these accusations.
“It’s not true,” he told The Media Line. He said no one had any evidence of vote buying on behalf of any party, and therefore he could not say whether or not his rival party Hizbullah was doing this, but he insinuated they were using unorthodox means to sway public opinion.
“When a party supports the livelihood of families of martyrs, gives free schooling or offers services in the run-up to the election period, it can sway the voter’s view one way or another,” he said. “That’s a type of vote buying.”