Lebanon: Another four years of corruption

March 14 claims win in Lebanon elections
Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:46:21 GMT
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Saad Hariri (L) leader of a pro-Western coalition embraces parliamentary candidate Nohad Machnouk (R) at his residence in Beirut on June 8, 2009.

The Western-backed March 14 coalition headed by Saad al-Hariri, claims parliamentary election victory as a Hezbollah politician concedes defeat.

Final results will be declared within a few hours, but the preliminary count shows the March 14 group has gained the upper hand and its supporters have started celebrations in the streets.

Senior Christian politician Samir Geagea who heads the Lebanese Forces and is allied to March 14, says the group has narrowly defeated the Hezbollah coalition which is allied with Amal and Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. Geagea added, "We accept the result as the will of the people."

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said any new government had to be based on partnership, not on one side monopolizing the power. Whoever wants political stability, the preservation of national unity and the resurrection of Lebanon will find no choice but to accept the principle of consensus, he said.

The outcome will be a boost to the March 14 backers - the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt - and a stinging setback to Aoun, who held the biggest bloc of Christian MPs in the outgoing assembly.

A source in Hariri's campaign predicted a decisive victory, with his bloc taking at least 70 of the assembly's 128 seats.

Analysts commented that the likeliest outcome of the poll is another national unity government.

According to unofficial results, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, 66, who has headed the cabinet since the Hariri-led coalition won the 2005 parliamentary elections, and enjoys Western and Arab support, won a parliamentary seat in the southern city of Sidon.

Voting was relatively trouble-free across Lebanon, although there were many reports of vote-buying before the poll, with some Lebanese expatriates being offered free air tickets home.

FTP/SME/HAR

March 14 group claims Lebanon win

The leader of Lebanon's March 14 coalition has declared victory over Hezbollah's coalition in the country's closely-contested parliamentary elections.

"Congratulations to Lebanon, congratulations to democracy, congratulations to freedom," Saad al-Hariri, the son of slain former prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri, said in a televised address from Beirut early on Monday.

Unofficial results projected al-Hariri's anti-Syrian coalition, which held the majority in the outgoing parliament, would win 70 seats in the new
128-seat assembly and the Hezbollah alliance 58 seats.

Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Beirut, said the results were not official but all the political parties seemed to be accepting them.

Hezbollah, while not making any official statement yet, had privately conceded defeat, our correspondent said.

Ziad Baroud, the interior minister, said he would begin announcing official results within a few hours, but already March 14 supporters were celebrating in the streets.

Saying "the only winner is democracy and Lebanon", al-Hariri called on supporters of the rival camps to refrain from any provocation.

Security sources said one person was wounded by gunfire in the northern city of Tripoli and there were brawls between rival supporters elsewhere, but no reports of serious fighting.

Preliminary figures showed a turnout of more than 54 per cent, exceeding the 45 per cent total recorded in the 2005 election.

The figure is high for Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of the 3.26 million eligible voters live abroad.

Long queues had formed outside polling stations during the day, with some people complaining that they had to wait for up to three hours to cast their ballots.