Comments on: +961 claims victory in the 2009 USJ election

By: WorriedLebanese

WorriedLebanese — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:15:40 +0000

The results should be officially published tomorrow. But the problem isn’t there. As you and many of yours readers put it, the problem lies in the interpretation of the results.

Because of the bipolarisation of all electoral battles, results have been interpreted as if we were in a two party system, which is far from being the case. At USJ, just like everywhere else in the country, there are deep divides within each camp that are just as deep if not deeper than the divide between the camps. The relationship within the popular base of Hezbollah and Amal for instance are just deep as the ones between the LF and the FPM. The same could be said about the Kataeb and the LF (where the divide is as deep within the leadership as it is within the popular base).

One should go beyond the flexible “we” of the LF (”we” the christians, “we” the LF, “we, March XIV”), and the egocentric “we” of the FPM, and see what lies behind it. If you check out both sites you find no info on how many seats people close to the Mustaqbal won, or Kataeb, or the Ahrar, or Hezbollah…

When discussing a battle between camps that are so heterogenous, it is silly to talk of who one and who lost in global and binary terms. It’s more fruitful and interesting to see how each party fared. And one does that, one can see that with each election, the representation of muslim party is growing, benefiting from the competition between the FPM and the other christian parties (Kataeb, Ahrar, Lebanese Forces), which is bringing more diversity to the student council but also submitting everyone to the countries dominant communal patronage networks.

By: Karim

Karim — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:34:32 +0000

Christians are divided, hence chirstians lost. Soon, they might even loose their homeland, will they ever wake up and realize what’s going on!?

By: Delirious

Delirious — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:45:28 +0000

I’m an ex-USJ student too, and I couldn’t have said it better than Fadi.
It’s why I never voted in the university elections.

…completely and utterly pathetic.

By: Jad Aoun

Jad Aoun — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:19:21 +0000

In the end one of them is going to win while the other will insist that they are the real winners. Politics in Lebanon is like a bad Mexican soap opera (can you have a good Mexican soap opera?)

By: Election Time At Universities « Beirut Apothecary

Election Time At Universities « Beirut Apothecary — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:51:50 +0000

[...] After the ridiculous results of the USJ student body elections, clearly illustrated by Rami at +961, I wanted to share it on my new blog. It’s all still relevant today, and the yearly cycle of [...]

By: Thouand Reds

Thouand Reds — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:58:47 +0000

I vote for Micky Mouse

By: lara

lara — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:05:30 +0000

I think that political election should stop at universities .lebanon should be a secular party but unfortunatly there are still ppl like the writer of this article saying zahef shi3e or mikey mouse…if you read a bit of history u would understand that the shiite second was deprived so the shiite ppl couldn’t afford to go ro universities but now they are well of so they can go. This is not a zahef shi3i el mikey mouse! This is only equality that wasn’t set b4 …stop writing if u know nothing about what u r talking about

By: Tweets that mention +961 claims victory in the 2009 USJ election | +961 -- Topsy.com

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:31:13 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mustapha, Rami Fayoumi, Rami Fayoumi, Chantal Akkary, Sara M and others. Sara M said: RT @Plus961: +961 claims victory in the 2009 USJ election http://is.gd/4MImg [...]

By: Hani

Hani — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:09:32 +0000

Both are celebrating and we are still waiting for ELFARAJ.
Thank you.

By: Posh

Posh — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:57:38 +0000

I’m not surprised. This always happens here in Lebanon. There’s never a loser. Both parties always claim victory. Where is the election committee to clear this up?