Nine opposition candidates declared winners of uncontested Beirut seats before election
By SAM F. GHATTAS

AP Worldstream
May 19, 2005

Nine opposition candidates on the 19-member ticket of the son of a
slain former premier have already won uncontested parliament seats in
Beirut, the government said Thursday, giving the anti-Syrian group
a head start in crucial balloting later this month that is expected
to end the pro-Syrian control of the legislature.

The Interior Ministry, which organizes the election, said seven of
the candidates on Saad Hariri’s list were declared winners after
opponents in their districts withdrew their candidacy before the
midnight Wednesday deadline. Two others were unopposed.

The 10 seats still up for grabs in Beirut will be contested by 27
candidates, including 10 on Hariri’s list.

Elections beginning in Beirut May 29 and in other regions the three
Sundays after that will be the first balloting free of Syrian forces,
which completed their withdrawal last month.

The media and political pundits expect Saad Hariri’s list to
easily win, as his father swept all of Beirut’s 19 seats in the 2000
elections. The late Rafik Hariri is credited with rebuilding the city
from the destruction of the 1975-90 civil war.

Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14,
sparking huge anti-Syrian protests, brought down the pro-Syrian
government and intensified international calls that forced Syria to
withdraw its army from the country and end 29 years of dominance of
its smaller Arab neighbor.

The opposition, which blamed Syrian and Lebanese security agencies
for involvement in the assassination of Hariri, is hoping to break
Syria’s hold on Parliament in the election.

A Syrian-era election law adopted in 2000, which demarcated electoral
districts, was left to stand after Parliament failed to draft a new
law. That has discouraged some from participating, including Tashnag,
the main political party of the Armenian community, which has announced
it will boycott the Beirut election.

Four of the nine candidates who won uncontested were Armenians on
the Hariri list. They are legislators, members of the Hariri bloc,
and do not belong to Tashnag.

Hariri, speaking to reporters after meeting with Armenian Catholic
clergy in Beirut, dismissed suggestions of voter apathy and predicted
a heavy turnout by Beirutis out of loyalty for his father and “against
the criminals” who planned, financed and carried out the murder.

Michel Pharaon, an opposition lawmaker on the Hariri list who was
re-elected for the Greek Catholic seat, said in a television interview
that the number of uncontested seats did not mean a boycott of the
election but rather satisfaction with the candidates.

The 128 seats in the legislature are split equally among Muslims and
Christians under Lebanon’s sectarian-based political system, which
allots most of the 17 sects a slice. In Beirut, nine of the 19 seats
are for Muslims and 10 for Christians and others, broken down by sect.

The younger Hariri is running for one of the six Sunni Muslim seats.