Chouf Ballot Complete;

Chouf Ballot Complete; Ghattas Khoury Excluded!

As parliamentary elections draw closer to June 7, the rift in the ranks of the March 14 bloc deepens. 
 
Indeed, no agreement seems to have been reached yet over the distribution of parliamentary seats in the Chouf district, south-east of Beirut, believed to be the stronghold of the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt.
 
There are four March 14 "confident" candidates for the three Maronite seats of the district: MPs George Adwan and Elie Aoun, former MP Ghattas Khoury and the National Liberal Party chief Dory Chamoun.
None of these candidates is willing to give up his seat even if it were for the sake of saving the corroding unity of March 14.
 
The whole issue seems to infuriate the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) chief who, according to parliamentary sources from within the March 14 bloc, has threatened to withdraw from the coalition if the head of the Future movement MP Saad Hariri continued to back the candidacy of former lawmaker Ghattas Khoury to one of three Maronite seats in the Chouf district.
 
Speaking to Lebanese daily As-Safir, the sources noted that Jumblatt's threat came after he was informed that Khoury had the intention to launch his electoral campaign, which he did last Sunday. The sources said preparations were underway for the event as Khoury accompanied Hariri on his visits to Britain and Belgium.
 
The problem, according to the sources, exacerbated when Jumblatt noticed "unusual movement" by activists loyal to Hariri in the Chouf and Iqlim al-Kharroub region. "Is Ghattas Khoury observing instructions from Qoreitem or from abroad? Or has he (Khoury) decided to go solo?" Jumblatt reportedly asked sarcastically.
 
According to the daily, Hariri promised Jumblatt that he would deal with Khoury's issue urgently. However, Hariri's wishes did not match Khoury's, the paper said, adding that Khoury informed Hariri about his rejection to be excluded, a move that prompted the Future Movement head to call on his media outlets to refrain from mentioning Khoury in any news article.
 
Khoury reportedly told visitors that he felt "betrayed."
"This is not the first time that he (Hariri) makes promises and does not keep them," Khoury said. "Does Jumblatt want to finish off what the Syrians had started -- marginalizing the role of Christians in Lebanon?" asked furious Khoury.
 
As-Safir said Khoury moved ahead with his election campaign anyhow and Jumblatt, eventually excluded him from his list of candidates in Chouf.
 
Meanwhile, an overnight meeting was held between Jumblatt and the National Liberal Party leader Dory Chamoun to discuss electoral lists in the Chouf district. The meeting was also attended by MP Marwan Hamadeh and PSP Secretary Sharif Fayyad.
 
According to Fayyad, the meeting discussed the electoral preparations in the Chouf district and the formation and announcement of electoral lists. "Dori Chamoun is one of the basic components of the March 14 alliance," he said, adding that Monday's discussions also included cooperation with the NLP throughout Lebanon.
 
Fayyad also said that candidate names for the upcoming parliamentary elections would not be announced before the official date, April 7, noting that an agreement had been reached over the electoral list in the Chouf district.