Anti-Syrian faction may gain control of parliament
Tripoli, Lebanon ? Pro-Syrian candidates appeared headed for defeat Sunday in Lebanon’s first free elections in three decades – a win that would break Damascus’ longtime domination of Lebanese political life and its parliament.
A pro-Syrian leader acknowledged a major defeat for his candidates and an anti-Syrian opposition official said the ticket’s unofficial results indicated a near sweep in the contest for 28 parliamentary seats in northern Lebanon.
Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian former interior minister close to the family of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said: “We bow to the will of the people.”
Whatever the outcome, however, the Christian-Muslim solidarity that emerged after the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been deeply marred by sectarian divisions. The divide has only become more acute in the heated competition leading to the final round of voting in the north of the eastern Mediterranean country.
The ticket led by the slain prime minister’s son, Saad Hariri, must win 21 of the 28 seats in the vote to gain a majority in the 128-member body.
“We’re ahead and we’re very optimistic,” an official in Saad Hariri’s camp said after their count indicated they were winning. The official insisted on anonymity because the final results are not out yet.
The unofficial tally by the campaigns of tickets backed by Hariri appeared to guarantee the opposition a majority in the new legislature and break the hold Syria has held in the parliament for more than a decade.
Hezbollah, allies claim victory in Lebanon elections
BINT JBEIL, Lebanon ? Hezbollah and its Shiite allies claimed victory in southern Lebanon in Sunday’s second stage of national elections, a vote the militant group hopes will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the United States.
Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters drove through the streets of Beirut waving the group’s yellow flag in celebration. In Beirut’s predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, fireworks lit the sky.
Four hours after polling stations closed, Hezbollah and its ally the Shiite Muslim Amal movement claimed they had won all 23 seats in the region bordering Israel. Official results were not due before midday today.
“It has become clear that all members of the Resistance, Liberation and Development Ticket have won in (southern Lebanon’s) two regions,” said Sheik Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader. “The south has declared through this vote its clear stance in supporting this track.”
The elections, which are scheduled for two more Sundays in other regions, follow the assassination last week of an anti-Syrian journalist and continuing calls by the opposition for President Emile Lahoud’s resignation. The anti-Syrian opposition hopes the elections will end Damascus’ control of the legislature.
The United States, which labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization, wants the guerrilla group to abandon its weapons in line with last year’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, a position backed by Lebanese authorities.
Voter turnout was heavy in Shiite areas and lower in Christian and Sunni Muslim districts, according to preliminary estimates by candidates’ campaigns and local television stations. Amal and Hezbollah campaigners estimated turnout at about 45 percent.
One reason for the lack of interest by some of the 665,000 eligible voters is that six of the 23 seats were uncontested.
Those citizens who did vote expressed strong support for Hezbollah, the guerrilla group that fought Israel during an 18-year occupation. Israel occupied south Lebanon from 1982-2000.
“We should show our support for the resistance and those who were martyred for the sake of liberating this country,” a smiling Kamel Hamka, 77, said as he walked out of a polling station in Bint Jbeil, a Shiite town a few miles from the Israeli border.
Leader’s death appears to be driving force in vote
Beirut, Lebanon ? Candidates loyal to Lebanon’s assassinated former premier have posted giant campaign billboards bearing his picture, hoping a wave of sympathy will bring them to power in Lebanon’s first elections in decades that are free from Syrian domination.
Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s son and political successor will likely be the main benefactor of the vote in four-stage elections beginning today. Hariri’s killing, which sparked mass protests that ultimately forced Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, appears to be the driving force in the vote.
But surprisingly, the legacy of Syria’s 29-year military and political control of its smaller neighbor has not shaped up to be a major campaign issue. Syrian troops are gone, and it seems they were quickly forgotten.
Groups united in the vocal opposition to Syrian control after Hariri’s killing in February are widely expected to win a majority in the next Parliament. Syria was accused by the opposition of having a hand in the assassination, a charge Damascus has denied.
Lebanon’s long-awaited legislative elections – which begin today in Beirut and in other regions over the following three Sundays – are seen as a chance to seal the end of Syria’s political dominance after the last of its forces left in April.
A Lebanese civil servant carrying a ballot box walks in front of posters Saturday showing slain former Premier Rafik Hariri and his son Saad, as he proceeds to set up a voting station in Beirut. Saad Hariri is expected to sweep the 19 parliamentary seats allocated to Beirut in Lebanon's election, which starts today and will be held on four consecutive Sundays.
Interior Minister Hassan Sabei promised “free and fair elections with complete neutrality by the state.”
Hariri loyalists are determined to carry out his agenda of opposing extremism and rebuilding the country. They also want to ensure a thorough investigation of his killing.
The former prime minister’s son, 35-year-old Saad Hariri, is leading a 19-member list of candidates named after his father in Beirut’s three districts.
In urging Beirut’s more than 400,000 eligible voters to turn out to show loyalty to his father, Saad Hariri billed the Beirut election as “the day of safeguarding Rafik Hariri’s course (and) Rafik Hariri’s blood.”
Nine of his candidates have won uncontested seats and 10 others, including Saad Hariri, are competing for the remaining 10 seats in the capital. The competition is so lopsided that people are being urged to vote anyway if only to show Hariri’s numerical dominance.
The election will be the first without foreign forces since the pre-civil war Parliament was elected in 1972, three years before the 15-year conflict erupted.