Out of 35,000 inhabitants in Damour, only 1,800 have returned to live in their village. This is not surprising, members of the opposition in Damour said, claiming that politicians and officials, including those in local government, did not do enough to encourage or facilitate the return of families who left the town more than thirty years ago.

"Throughout the six-year mandate, the council did not introduce any changes in infrastructure and public services," said Farid Bou Mereh, a retired army officer and a candidate running for a seat in the municipal council.

The opposition in Damour formed a list headed by Charles Ghafry, the current mayor's cousin, with "one main goal in mind, to restore Damour to its people."

"The current council did not consult with citizens on major decisive issues," Bou Mereh said. "After discussion and agreement in principle, Mayor Antoine Ghafry canceled a strategic tourist project and yielded to outside political pressure," he added.

The mayor could not be reached for comment.

Two main projects are subject to dispute between the present council and the opposition: the construction of the proposed Technology Zone on Damour's public properties and the aforementioned tourist project on the town's sea front.

"Without prior consultation with the inhabitants of Damour, Mayor Ghafry and a few council members decided to sell 1,000,000 square meters out of 1,000,700 square meters of Damour's public land. They even underestimated the price of the land: one dollar per square meter," Bou Mereh said.

Bou Mereh said that half of the members plus one voted in favor and the rest of the members resigned and a filed a complaint in court.

"The question is not whether we support this vital project or not," added Bou Mereh, "but rather whether we got a good deal or not. The other concern is that the local inhabitants need these hills east of Damour for demographic expansion; The town's population has no other land to expand on in the future."

 Leila Ghafry Nasrallah, an election campaigner, said that public properties belonging to neighboring villages were ten times larger. "Why not construct the project over these properties?" she asked.

Mayor Ghafry had initially supported a major tourist project with international specifications that could easily become number one in the countries of the Mediterranean Sea, according to Bou Mereh.

"The Maronite Coventry owns 85 percent of the town's sea front. They signed a preliminary contract with a Lebanese expatriate to construct this project, which would provide 1,800 jobs in its first stage."

Bou Mereh said the Mayor backed down and refused to put the proposal to a vote in the council, loosing an excellent opportunity.

The reason given for rejecting the project, Nasrallah said, was to discourage Damourians from selling their properties once the prices went up because of the project.

The other reason was to preserve the green fields along the sea front. "The plans for the tourist project had allowed for keeping the field intact," Bou Merhy said.

The opposition includes representatives from all families. Political support comes from the Lebanese Forces, the Free Patriotic Movement and prominent independent figures.