LADE's Second Report: Blatant Violation of Election Silence and Secrecy of Ballot

The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) announced in its second report on the voting process that pressure on voters continued this afternoon amidst the Interior Ministry's laxity in controlling violations related to the ballot secrecy and electoral silence. 

The Association cited the Interior Minister's decision to consider the vicinity of polling stations as part of the ballot boxes upon closing of polls as being "the most prominent observation."

Furthermore, the Association outlined the following irregularities detected until 6:00 p.m. today:

- Chaos upon arrival of expatriates' ballot boxes to the Higher Registration Committee in Beirut, resulting in delays in sending them to various constituencies

- Flagrant violation of electoral silence

- Pressure on voters

- Violation of the ballot secrecy through deliberate practices of delegates accompanying voters to vote

- Lack of clarity in the practice of polling management by polling station heads

- Chaos in polling stations when candidates entered to cast their votes

- Electoral campaigns by the Future Movement's machine: Placing candidates' photos on delegates' shirts, deliberately distributing them to polling stations (Beirut II)

- Zahle incident: filming of ballot papers, publishing images on social media

Referring to delegates' escorting voters to the isolation barrier, LADE indicated that it communicated directly with the Interior Ministry to instruct poll heads to prevent these violations. "However, the Ministry's response was that issuing such a circular is difficult due to the Interior Minister's unavailability," the Association stated.

LADE reminded citizens to communicate with it and report any irregularities they see on the following numbers 01-333713 or 01-333714, and through its online application.