Jimmy Carter reporting from Lebanon where the Carter Center is helping to monitor today's elections

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.cartercenter.org/news/features/blogs/p/elections/lebanon/dhakes_june7.html

Today is election day.

Crowds are everywhere, the voting lines are long, and the polls are cramped from all the people. Lebanon's minister of the interior issued a statement asking the polling stations to try to speed things up.

Voters, though, are in very good spirits. People clapped when they saw President Carter. Many thanked him for being here, shook his hand, wanted photos with him, and offered us food at almost every polling station.

The press seemed to find President Carter everywhere.

Most of all, everywhere the Lebanese people were all very gracious and glad to see our international observers.

My photos from this morning, below, show President and Mrs. Carter at the polling stations and with media, Carter Center election observers, and the voters on this important day. More photos at the above link.

[jwirr]

1. I am so proud of him. At his age he is still working hard for the good

of the world.

[Ishoutandscream2]

3. and he and his wife are looking very good, too

I hope for an even longer, happier, and healthier life for both of them. Very good people that we still so desperately need.

[That Is Quite Enough]

6. True that.

[Vidar]

2. Bless you, Jimmy.

[struggle4progress]

4. That man spends his time well

[flpoljunkie]

5. More from the NYT: Lebanese voters turned out in huge numbers

June 8, 2009
Lebanese Vote in Crucial Elections

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

BEIRUT — Lebanese voters turned out in huge numbers on Sunday, some waiting hours to cast ballots in a hotly contested parliamentary election that has been described as a showdown between Iranian and American influence in the Middle East.

Thousands of troops fanned out across this small, fractured nation to keep the peace amid what government officials said was higher than expected turnout. Despite huge crowds at voting places, though, there were few reports of disturbances, and those appeared minor, Lebanese and election monitoring officials said. Officials were weighing whether to keep polls open longer in some districts outside the capital in order to accommodate the crowds.

There were reports of some voters growing weary of waiting and heading home, though most seemed to agree that the stakes were too high. “There is the fate of the country this time,” said Mireille Fiani, 45, as she stood crushed up against a crowd inside a school building to cast her vote.

The elections for the 128-seat Lebanese Parliament will decide which of two broad political blocs will win the power to build the next government — either a coalition led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies from a prominent Christian party, aligned with Iran and Syria, or a bloc of primarily Sunni, Druze and Christian parties aligned with the West and Saudi Arabia.

It is expected to be a close race, with political analysts saying that as few as seven seats may decide the outcome of the contest. With the race so close, and the districts so small, political analysts said that the outcome could come down to rampant vote-buying efforts by politicians across the spectrum.

Official results were expected on Monday at noon here.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/world/middleeast/08lebanon.html?hp

[Recursion]

7. I hate to say it, but Carter isn't looking too good :(

I hope he's not overworking himself.

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. kick and recommended

[Canuckistanian]

9. The man certainly puts his money where his mouth is

A lot of people scream "freedom" and "justice", but Carter is someone who actually DOES something about it. He works quietly in the background, just getting that work DONE.

He is the consummate Statesman.