NNA - At the end of a visit to a polling centre in Beirut this early afternoon, the Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) György Hölvényi made a brief statement to the media.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
The mission today has 170 observers who have been deployed throughout the country.
Since the early morning our teams are sending reports of their observation from all 26 minor districts and all 15 major districts in Lebanon.
Our teams in the field observed that most of the polling stations have opened on time, or with a slight delay.
In general, we have observed a calm atmosphere inside and outside the polling stations with minor issues.
Our observers are reporting an increasing attendance of voters.
Two thirds of the observed polling stations were not accessible for voters with reduced mobility.
This morning, our media monitoring team observed several violations of the silence period on major tv channel, including political content from candidates.
Our teams will be still present in all the regions of Lebanon throughout the day to observe the rest of voting, the counting and the tabulation of results.
Since the electoral process is ongoing and we do notinterfere in it, this Tuesday 17 May the mission will present the assessment of what we have been observing during the electoral campaign and on Election Day, in a press conference at 11 in the morning.
The European Union Election Observation Mission arrived in Lebanon at the end of March. -- EU EOM
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