In a further sign of panic and confusion, the political forces in Beirut that are loyal to the Syrian occupation have suddenly rallied themselves around the Syrian position of resisting both the Lebanese opposition and the international community. Last week, the loyalist camp was torn apart by dissenters trying to reach out to the opposition in a move aimed at protecting their political arrears in anticipation of the impending collapse of the Syrian political order both in Lebanon and Syria. The two radical countries remain steadfastly opposed to any change in the Syrian occupation and domination of Lebanon as demanded by a united international community through UN resolution 1559 voted last September. Similarly, after approaching the leaders of the exiled opposition with promises of a safe return to Lebanon last week, the collaborator dog-in-chief Adnan Addoum recanted late this week and threatened to arrest those leaders of the opposition who decide to fly into Beirut.

In a move aimed at restoring order within the ranks of a quickly decomposing pro-Syrian Lebanese regime, the Syrian regime cracked the whip on its hounds in Beirut and reinstated a one-district electoral system that is guaranteed to give the loyalist camp a majority at the parliamentary elections in May. As reported by Al-Hayat yesterday, citing sources within the loyalist camp, the pro-Syrian collaborators appear to be using the Iraqi elections as a model with which to turn the table on the Americans and their allies when the Lebanese elections are held in May. Specifically, the use of the single electoral district in Iraq gave the Shiite majority an almost certain victory in the vote, although votes are still being counted and the official results of the elections have not been made public.

According to Al-Hayat's loyalist sources, the single district is "the electoral (district) that was adopted by the Americans in the Iraqi elections, and as such this is a choice that they cannot object to in Lebanon. And if some will complain about the concentration of voting power in one community, the American administration has considered the Iraqi elections as successful in spite of the fact that the majority of the voters were Shiites".

What the loyalist collaborators fail to mention is that, unlike the American plan for Iraqi elections, their own plan excludes the millions of Lebanese citizens who live abroad and who have been denied the right to vote for decades in the sham elections held previously under the Syrian occupation. In every country and continent where they live, millions of Iraqi expatriates were allowed to vote in last week's Iraqi elections. Perhaps, the collaborators should think twice before invoking the Iraqi elections as a model, since they will have to give the millions of Lebanese living abroad the right to vote, in which case the outcome of the Lebanese elections will this time turn the table on them and speed up their debacle in Lebanon.

Lebanese Americans and their fellow Lebanese expatriates all across the globe should raise their voices loud and clear and demand that they be allowed to vote in May. Nothing short of that will guarantee the elections to be free, fair, and truly representative of the will of the Lebanese people.