The elections of three local muftis in the governorates of Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel did not bring any real surprises, except in terms of the percentage of votes each of the winners obtained, especially for the Mufti Center in Zahle and the western Bekaa, which is It was won by Sheikh Ali Al-Ghazzawi, director general of Al-Azhar institutions in the Bekaa, with a majority of 30 votes, with a difference of 15. “Support for the latter. While the other contenders for the position, namely Sheikh Abdul Rahman Sharkia and Sheikh Khaled Abdel Fattah got only four votes each.
On the other hand, the results in both Baalbek and Rashaya were quite expected, in favor of Sheikh Ayman Al-Rifai in Baalbek, who won by 13 votes, compared to only seven votes for the director general of the Awqaf House in Baalbek, Sami Al-Rifai, while Sheikh Wafik Hijazi’s victory in Rashaya blew away his competitor, the only one, Sheikh Jamal Hammoud, received 18 votes, while Hammoud got only three.
regional considerations
In preliminary readings of these results, approved directly by the Mufti of Lebanon, Abd al-Latif Darian, the impact of political meddling appeared most evident in the election of the local mufti of Baalbek, while such meddling and its circumstances remained vague in le Zahle, West Bekaa and Rashaya elections. Regional considerations advance Zahle and Rashaya, as well as the personal relationships that each of the winning candidates managed to forge with the members of the Electoral College, which meant that each of them stood for election with an almost total confidence in victory.
The elected Mufti of Zahle and West Bekaa, Sheikh Ali Ghazzawi, even appeared in attendance to deliver the victory speech, despite the lengthy speech about the fierce rivalry between him and Sheikh Talib Juma. Note that both sheikhs are students of the late Mufti Khalil Al-Mayes, and close to him. The former was put in charge by Mufti Al-Mays of the Al-Azhar institutions which he established in the Bekaa, and the latter was his son-in-law and his closest adviser, the fulcrum of his movement and of his internal and external relations. Between the son-in-law and the guardian, the second was chosen by the electorate, made up of 58 electors, of whom 53 cast their vote.
As for Rashaya, Sheikh Hijazi seemed pleased from the outset with the progress of his battle, and those close to him believed that the surprise was that he had won 18 votes, while the electoral college accounts indicated that he had won at least 20 votes. Note that the total body consists of 24 voters, two of whom were absent due to travel and one did not vote. Hijazi’s preference over Hammoud appeared in his permanent presence in his region, while Ali Hammoud took up residence in Canada from the very beginning.
The influence of the Shiite duo
In Baalbek, the outcome of the battle seemed politically settled from the outset in favor of Sheikh Ayman al-Rifai, after the competition between the Ayman and Sami “Rifa’i” had subsided. Although the latter is the general director of endowments in the Baalbek region, the political presence of the former in the region, as well as the nature of the electorate that controls the civilian part of which is dominated by the Shiite duo, especially Hezbollah, both in terms of composition of the municipalities or in terms of Sunni deputies of the region, together with the personal relationships and the permanent presence of Sheikh Ayman Al-Rifai, even after his removal from the post he held for a short time. All these factors made him launch an influential block even before the polls opened.
The Baalbek elections were launched immediately and from the first session, after the quorum of those present had been completed with two-thirds of the number of constituency members, so that its results were among the first results announced, after the Rashaya election, in which attended the opening of its first session at nine in the morning, 16 members, obtaining a two-thirds quorum, to complete the vote of the commission The elector less than an hour after the start of the process electoral .
If the delay was a feature of the election of the local mufti of Zahle and West Bekaa, where the quorum was not reached in the first round, the polls were opened in the second round of elections at ten in the morning with a majority of half of the number of voters. The polls only closed at 13:00, according to the date set for the end of the electoral process, after the last voters showed up just two minutes before the polls closed.
Although Zahle’s constituency includes three deputies and a minister, all of whom voted, they have not been recorded to have had a clear impact on the course of the electoral process, and not all even attended to see the results. In return for the enthusiasm shown by the sheikhs of the house and the students of the Azhar Al-Beqaa Foundation, who gathered at Dar Al-Fatwa, and rallied around the new Mufti during his first speech on the occasion, which including words of thanks and pledges to cooperate with everyone and also with its competitors, promising to carry forward the affairs of the institution and the Sunnis of the Bekaa. And in the awareness of the new mufti that the responsibilities entrusted to him will be very great, above all in light of the absence of local political authority for the Sunni community of the Bekaa, which places political and religious responsibilities on the shoulders of the mufti at the same time.
