New Majority… Triumphs

The new majority in Lebanon achieved another victory on Sunday…

In the first electoral challenge since the collapse of the government of Saad Hariri in what the latter said was a ‘coup’, his bloc was defeated in the Beirut Engineers Syndicate elections.

Final results of the polls showed that the March 8-backed list, as Free Patriotic Movement's Elie Bsaibes, the March 8 candidate for the chairmanship of the Beirut syndicate, garnered 6,699 votes while Lebanese Forces candidate Imad Wakim, who was backed by the March 14 forces, received 6,412 votes.

The winning list comprised Paul al-Hajj (6,694 votes), Rudolph Karam (6,570 votes), Mohammed Basbous (6,497 votes), Mustafa Fawwaz (6,565 votes) and Ayman Zeineddine (12,479 votes).

Meanwhile, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt stressed that the result of the election for the leadership of the syndicate reflected the importance of coordination between the PSP, the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and Amal Movement.

Jumblatt, who tasked State Minister in the caretaker government Wael Abou Faour with thanking FPM chief Michel Aoun and the Hezbollah leadership for their cooperation during the elections, told Lebanese daily As-Safir that the Iqlim proved that it has its own independent national word. "I don't want to say that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated. This expression might be harsh, but the Iqlim proved that it has its own independent national word," he said.

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