To many, the results of last week’s Engineers and Architects Order elections in Lebanon were nothing short of profound.
To Paul Naggear, as it was to his fellow secular candidates, the domination of secular lists in the elections has important implications that reach far beyond the level of the Order itself.
Breaking a Tradition
When he announced he was running for the elections in June, Naggear, alongside fellow “Syndicate Revolts” coalition members, was hell-bent on not only ensuring that the elections take place on time but also that the coalition seizes the win.
On June 27th, this dedication shattered the tradition of political parties retaining their unchallenged influence over the Order of Engineers and Architects.
“We were able, after a year and a half, to show that we can still fight against them, and this, I believe, is a very important thing for us personally and for the people,” Paul Naggear told The961.
The sweeping victory of the coalition of October 17 groups and opposition parties in the Council of Delegates, Naggear noted, was the outcome of months of diligence and work.
“We were able to form a coalition of Revolution and opposition movements, despite all the difficulties, because it’s not easy and they’d been working on it for a year and a half.”
Much to the delight of Naggear and other coalition members, the hard work did pay off last Sunday. “To me, personally, and to my colleagues, it was a very beautiful thing.”
The Fight Goes on
“For the first time since August 4, we felt that there is a battle that we can fight against this authority that killed us, and we won, and we will continue,” affirmed the bereaved father of 3-year-old Alexandra who was killed during the devastating Beirut Port Explosion last year.
Though that battle is won, the fight is not over. Now that the first stage of the elections is done, the attention has shifted to July 18th, the day on which the head of the Order and its 10 council members will be elected.
In Naggear‘s view, the upcoming election is another battle that requires just as much effort as the previous one. He remains optimistic that the coalition will reap another victory.
In the meantime, he wants the overwhelmingly positive election results to be a source of inspiration and motivation for the Lebanese people, whom, he stresses, should continue to demand their rights.
“This is an example of the change we can create,” he observed, explaining that, in their case, one of the independent engineers’ and architects’ rights is to be able to have a good and effective syndicate that can implement all of the changes “because the responsibility of the Order of Engineers and Architects is very, very important.”
Drawing from that thought, he called upon his colleagues to make their participation on July 18th as powerful as it was on June 27th.
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