The issue of optional secret voting will likely preoccupy politicians in the wake of Sunday’s parliamentary by-election in Metn, after Interior Minister Elias Murr instructed polling officials to let voters choose whether they wanted to prepare their ballots in private.
Murr’s circular challenged assertions by prominent lawyers and ministers, including Justice Minister Samir Jisr, in the days leading up to the election that voting behind a screen was prescribed by law and ensured the freedom of the electoral process.
“Interior Minister Elias Murr’s announcement is grounds for prosecution, as he is inciting people to break the law,” former Constitutional Council member Salim Azar told a local TV station on Saturday night, adding that the Public Prosecutor’s Office should consider such announcements a tip-off and launch an investigation.
But Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Jean Fahd told The Daily Star on Sunday: “We can’t interfere in the work of a minister … There are regulations for the judicial process and we can’t bypass them.”
Fahd added that people could present a challenge before the Shura Council if they disagreed with the minister’s interpretation of the law.
When casting his ballot around noon in his hometown of Bteghrin, former Interior Minister Michel Murr said that secret voting was a sign of “phony democracy.”
Murr, the father of Interior Minister Elias Murr, said: “In confirmation of true democracy and freedom, not the phony democracy and freedom (others) have been talking about, I will place this ballot (in the envelope) in front of everyone.”
Murr also used a decision
by the Constitutional Council in 2000 to back his argument
that use of the screen was
not mandatory. In its verdict regarding a case challenging the election results of parliamentary seats, the council had argued that use of the screen was optional.
However, Article 49 of the 2000 Election Law says that the head of a polling station is required to compel a voter to use the screen; if a voter refuses to do so, he or she risks being prevented from voting.
Article 70 of the Election Law describes the penalties the head of a polling station might face if he fails to fulfill all his duties, including those outlined in Article 49. The head of a polling station could face imprisonment of one to three years or fines from LL1 million to LL3 million if he fails to carry out his duties.
MPs and lawyers, including candidate Ghassan Mokheiber, have argued that the Election Law takes precedence over a verdict by the Constitutional Council. Nevertheless, when the interior minister was asked about this issue when he cast his ballot, he dismissed Jisr’s viewpoint and indicated that he could guarantee the Constitutional Council’s endorsement.
“He’s a justice minister,” he said, “but in any case, people will (later) submit challenges to the Constitutional Council, which will examine them and apply the law to everyone.”
Although her father, President Emile Lahoud, voted behind the screen in his hometown in Baabdat, Karine Lahoud-Murr, Elias Murr’s wife, chose not to abide by election rules, as did “about 60 percent of voters” in Bteghrin, according to a representative of Gabriel Murr.
Asked why she did not vote behind the curtain, Karine Lahoud-Murr said: “I’m free to do whatever I want.”

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