Anti-Syrian alliance claims majority in Lebanese elections
EBANON’S anti-Syrian alliance, led by the billionaire son of an assassinated former prime minister, was last night claiming it had secured a parliamentary majority with a decisive victory in the last phase of general elections.
That outcome would increase pressure on Hezbollah to disarm and help the opposition to unseat the president, Emile Lahoud, Syria’s staunchest ally in Beirut. Washington is keen to see both happen.
A source at Saad al-Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc said after the polls closed: “We are heading for a landslide in north Lebanon. We’ll easily get the 21 seats necessary for the parliament majority.”
Michel Aoun, a maverick Maronite Christian leader, had been poised to upset the opposition’s chances of a clear-cut majority in the 128-seat assembly. His allies needed to win just a quarter of the 28 seats contested yesterday.
Mr Aoun has been a bitter enemy of Syria, and was previously allied with the opposition, but broke away to form alliances with both anti- Syrian and pro-Syrian figures.
In the Christian heartland of Mount Lebanon last week, he scored a stunning surprise victory over established rivals from his community who had joined their old Muslim civil war enemies in the anti-Syrian alliance.
The US has championed the Lebanese elections, the first free of Syrian domination in nearly three decades, as a beacon of democracy for the rest of the Middle East. Many Lebanese had also hoped for a lasting period of unity after the Christian, Sunni Muslim and Druze communities joined in huge, anti-Syrian street protests following February’s assassination of Rafik Hariri, the Sunni Muslim former prime minister. Damascus denied accusations of involvement in his death but withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April under international pressure. Of the 100 seats decided before yesterday, the opposition held 44 seats, Aoun’s bloc had 21, and Hezbollah and a fellow Shia Muslim group, Amal, 35.
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