BEIRUT: Rival camps in student elections at Universite Saint Joseph (USJ) claimed victory Wednesday, as leading politicians put their own spin on the results. While USJ failed to post the official results on its website, the newspaper An-Nahar claimed that March 14-affiliated students beat out the March 8 coalition in 15 faculties in “a landslide victory. The website of the Lebanese Forces (LF) posted detailed results Tuesday night, even though the official tally was far from being completed.
For its part, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), leading the ranks of the opposition, preferred to focus on results in 10 faculties with more than 250 students enrolled, where “the battle was purely political.” The group claimed to have won in six out of these 10 faculties, in addition to five other faculties.
Many students were frustrated with the spin. Khouloud Nassabi, a Translation student who was one of the victorious candidates, said identifying student parties as exact fits with either camp were sometimes misleading. She said that while her student party, Universion, was supported by March 14, many of its members weren’t affiliated with the group.
“I have many friends who are wrongfully [linked] to one political party or another in the media. Just because some of these students chose not to run under the March 8 umbrella, it doesn’t automatically imply they’re March 14 supporters.”
Meanwhile, LF leader Samir Geagea issued a statement in which he hailed the March 14 victory as “the torch of the future, despite all efforts to draw this country in total darkness,” adding: “I hope we can say ‘bye bye’ to them [the opposition], just as you said to them at USJ.”
FPM leader Michel Aoun stepped into the fray during a news conference later in the day, saying that Geagea’s statement pointed to the LF leader’s immaturity, adding it didn’t deserve a response. Aoun offered one nonetheless, claiming that the opposition had won the majority of faculties and the popular vote, an echo of the opposition’s rhetoric after June’s parliamentary elections.
He also claimed “some” university officials had interfered in the polls.
Aoun also urged “those who are responsible” to clamp down on calls to free the university from Hizbullah and Shiites, which he said had led to tension.
“We will call upon the Higher Education Ministry and the university administration to assume responsibility regarding this issue and will take further steps toward putting an end to this policy of intimidation,” he said.
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