It has many repercussions on Lebanon's political future.. This is how Al Jazeera Net monitored the elections at the polling stations

North Lebanon -

After all the warnings and fears that Lebanon has experienced in recent months about the fate of the elections, the polls have opened in 15 constituencies to Lebanese voters, since seven o'clock this morning, Sunday, May 15, 2022, as scheduled.

Thus, the elections have become a fait accompli, and their results, after the polls are closed at night, will affect much of Lebanon's political future, and the balance of power between its conflicting poles and its ruling elites.

Experts believe that the essence of these elections revolves around 5 problems, as follows:

First,

Hezbollah, through its solid core formed by its allies, sought to maintain a numerical majority in the new parliament, despite all the changes that occurred in the reality of its allies, led by the Free Patriotic Movement.

Second,

the nature of representation achieved by the March 14 forces in Parliament in the absence of the Future Movement.

Third,

the political representation and presence of the Sunni community in the next stage, which is running for the first time in the elections in the absence of its largest representative, the "Future Movement" and its leader, Saad Hariri.

Fourth,

the repercussions of the conflict of the Christian forces that are running in the elections as a prelude to their broader struggle over the presidential elections next October, and it revolves specifically between the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gibran Bassil, the leader of the Forces Party, Samir Geagea, and the leader of the Marada movement, Suleiman Franjieh.

Fifthly,

the nature of parliamentary representation that the newcomers from the forces emanating from civil society will achieve, especially since they formed in an uncoordinated manner about 60 lists at the level of Lebanon out of 103 lists.

Michel Moawad competes in Zgharta, in which Franjieh's leadership is centered (Al-Jazeera)

But what was the atmosphere like on the street?

Al Jazeera Net monitored the electoral atmosphere in each of the second northern district, which includes Tripoli, Minieh and Dinnieh - where the Sunni majority - which has 10 parliamentary seats out of 128 seats, and 11 lists are competing, which is the highest number of competing lists compared to the rest of the districts, and some link them to the results of the absence of the future .

She continued the atmosphere in the Christian-majority third district of the North, which includes the districts of Batroun, Zgharta, Bcharre and Koura, which is called the "Presidents of the Republic" district, and it has 10 parliamentary seats and 7 lists compete in it, at the forefront of which are the lists of Basil, Geagea and Franjieh, in addition to the list of the Lebanese Kataeb Party's alliance with MP Michel Moawad.

In front of a number of centers in Tripoli, the delegates of Representative Faisal Karami, an ally of Hezbollah, who formed a list in alliance with the Islamic Projects Association (Al-Ahbash) and the Marada Movement, led the scene, in addition to a large number of delegates from the former Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, who formed a list in alliance with the party. The forces, which are competing with other lists, are at the forefront of a list formed by former MP Mustafa Alloush, who broke away from the "Future Movement" and whose list enjoys the support of former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Representatives in front of a polling station in Tripoli (Al-Jazeera)

Inside one of the polling stations, where representatives of most of the lists attend to monitor the progress of the process, which is officially managed by the Election Supervision Authority (affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior), the electricity was cut off, and it was noticeable that some voters were ignorant of the voting mechanism.

One of the observers told Al Jazeera Net, "We observed a number of violations due to the lack of knowledge of some voters of the voting mechanism, so delegates tried to enter with them behind the isolator before we intervened to prevent this, in order to preserve the transparency of the process and the freedom of voters."

In front of a school in Tripoli, which includes a polling station, Hajj Muhammad, a mobile coffee seller, stands. He boycotted the polls, justifying this by saying, "Because none of the candidates represents me, neither from the Sunni sect nor anyone else, after decades we have experienced injustice and humiliation."

He told Al Jazeera Net, "I came here to drank the voters with a cup of coffee when they left the polling stations, and to watch the enthusiasm of the new generation for voting, as if it did not realize that there is no hope in our country."

Gebran Bassil voted in his hometown of Batroun in light of his strong competition for the leadership of the Christian street (Al-Jazeera)

In Batroun, the situation seemed different, and this coastal city witnessed a kind of duel in the street between the delegates of its poles, and everyone is awaiting its results, and it is the birthplace of Gibran Bassil, the leader of the largest Christian bloc in the current parliament.

When he voted in a Batroun school, dozens gathered around Basil, and chanted in support of him.

At one of the polling stations, a delegate from the Forces Party told Al Jazeera Net, "We are monitoring the elections in Batroun, because we will not allow any fraud or falsification of the results."

The same applies to Zgharta, which is experiencing severe political polarization between its leader, Franjieh, and his opponents in the region, led by Michel Moawad.

The town witnessed a relatively advanced electoral movement than other northern districts, and delegates spread out in its various streets to urge voters to vote.

A representative of the Marada movement told Al Jazeera Net, "We are doing our best to persuade the people of Zgharta to vote heavily, so as to assure everyone that our leader Suleiman Franjieh is the most legitimate candidate for the presidency."

Inside a polling station in Tripoli, which witnesses a strong presence of electoral list delegates (Al-Jazeera)

other circles

In fact, the scene of polarization has withdrawn to the various electoral districts in the south, Bekaa, Beirut and Mount Lebanon, where the battle is taking place between the various political and sectarian forces.

Some areas witnessed limited disputes between some of the representatives of the lists, in Baalbek, Zahle, Jbeil and others.

The elections are monitored by a number of non-official bodies, foremost of which is the Lebanese Association for the Promotion of Democratic Elections (LADE);

It has 1,100 observers deployed in various departments, in addition to the Arab League, the Arab Network for Electoral Democracy and a European mission.

Ladi announced the monitoring of a number of violations during the polling process, including power outages, polling stopped in a number of centers due to problems between delegates, and some delegates were attacked and partisan chants spread in front of a number of polling stations.