Hariri camp claims win in Lebanon elections

THE anti-Syrian opposition captured control of Lebanon’s parliament yesterday, breaking Syria’s long domination of the country, according to unofficial results and the opposition leader, Saad Hariri.

“The north has decided the character of the new parliament and given the absolute majority to the opposition,” Mr Hariri told a news conference about yesterday’s elections in north Lebanon, the fourth and final round of the parliamentary polls.

Unofficial results showed the opposition candidates taking all the seats in the north. The Interior Ministry delayed the announcement of official results because the counting took longer than expected.

Men, women and children waved flags and danced in the streets of Tripoli, the provincial capital of the north, as news of the opposition victory spread. In Beirut, the national capital, opposition supporters drove through the city, cheering and sounding car horns.

Mr Hariri did not stipulate the number of seats he believes his alliance has won. But earlier yesterday, a pro-Syrian leader, former Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh, said the opposition had triumphed in polling.

Asked whether he would seek the premiership, 35-year-old Hariri said he would consult his allies.

The election was marred by vote-buying and other shortcomings. The head of the European Union observers, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, said his team of about 100 personnel had “directly witnessed a few attempts at vote-buying” in the three previous rounds of voting. He also said the electoral system needs “a very serious reform to be closer to the democratic standards.”

President Emile Lahoud yesterday called on the new parliament to reform the electoral law to “put an end to vote-buying and give an equal opportunity to all candidates.”

The opposition’s victory capped four months of political upheaval since the February 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The killing provoked mass demonstrations against Syria which, backed by UN and US pressure, led to Damascus withdrawing all its troops from Lebanon by late April, ending 29 years of military and political dominance.

The opposition blamed Syria and pro-Syrian elements in the Lebanese security services for blowing up Hariri’s motorcade, killing him and 20 others on a Beirut street. Syria denied involvement.

The new parliament will face the challenge of healing Lebanon’s long-standing divisions, as well as new sectarian tensions that arose during the campaign.

“What happened is a hurricane that aims at destroying Lebanese unity, and this is the danger facing us all and we must avoid,” said Mikhail Daher, a former opposition MP who was defeated by the main opposition alliance. Daher, a Christian blamed his loss in the mainly Muslim Akkar region on vote-buying and sectarian incitement by the Future Movement of Mr Hariri, a Sunni Muslim.