The Daily Star - Journalists object to long-delayed elections for new union council, May 18 2012

BEIRUT: A group of journalists objected Thursday to long-awaited elections later this month for a new council of the Journalists Union, demanding that the group hold a general conference to address the problems facing journalists.

During a meeting at the One Thousand and One Nights publishing house in Beirut, the participants said a call for elections on May 29 in UNESCO was “unfortunate.”

In a statement, they said the union’s member rolls had yet to be properly vetted, and accused the council of failing to inform members of the scheduled poll.

Two media groups, the League of Media Faculty Alumni from the Lebanese University and the Press Club described Tuesday the council’s call for elections as “null” and “void” because the council faced a judicial challenge.

Press Federation member Elias Aoun has said that he is a front-runner to head the union, to succeed the late Melhem Karam. Sources familiar with the issue said Aoun resigned from his posts with the Press Federation this week, to become eligible for a leadership position with the Journalists Union.

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