Yacoubian Disrupts Berri's Reelection by Voting for Labaki

by Naharnet Newsdesk 23 May 2018, 17:36

First-time parliamentarian Paula Yacoubian, a journalist who is close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri but ran as a civil society candidate, made a scene at parliament on Wednesday by voting symbolically for prominent Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki for the parliament speaker post.

Yacouboian objected after Labaki's name was not read out during the counting of votes.

Yacoubian's vote was subsequently disqualified after it was initially counted as a blank ballot.

Parliamentarians had submitted anonymous paper ballots which were then read out loud. Speaker Nabih Berri's name was read 98 times, and "blank" was read 30 times. Under Lebanon's confessional-based political system, the position of parliament speaker is reserved for a Shiite Muslim. Candidates also have to be members of parliament.

Labaki won one of the top prizes at the Cannes film festival on Saturday. She is the first Arab woman to have won a major prize at the festival and only the second to have had a film competing for the Palme d'Or.

Lebanon witnessed controversy in the past few days after Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi and the journalist Manar Sabagh of Hizbullah's al-Manar TV downplayed and ridiculed Labaki's win in Twitter posts.

Hizbullah has distanced itself from the tweets, saying in a statement that they do not reflect the party's stance on cinema and arts.

Moussawi interrupted Yacouboian several times during her objecting remarks Wednesday in parliament.

Source: Naharnet

https://naharnet.com/stories/en/246543