2ND ROUNDUP: OPPOSITION CANDIDATE WINS BY-ELECTION IN METN REGION
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
August 5, 2007 Sunday 9:49 PM EST
Beirut
DPA POLITICS Lebanon Elections 2ND ROUNDUP: Opposition candidate wins
by-election in Metn region Beirut A Maronite Christian opposition
candidate in the Metn region and a government candidate in Beirut
won Sunday’s by- elections to replace two assassinated anti-Syrian
lawmakers, initial results showed.
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said that his candidate,
Camille Khoury, closely beat Amin Gemayel, a former Lebanese president
and key ruling coalition member, in the Metn district northeast
of Beirut.
"We have been informed about the victory of the candidate Camille
Khoury by a small margin," Aoun told reporters.
There was still no official confirmation of Aoun’s announcement,
but opposition sources said that Camille Khoury had won by a margin
of some 300 votes out of 75,000 cast.
The results showed pro-government candidate Mohammad Amin Itani winning
by a large margin the Sunni Muslim seat in a Beirut district held by
slain MP Walid Eido, who was assassinated in June.
Turnout at polling stations in the Christian heartland was reported
to be around 50 per cent, while in Beirut it reached 20 per cent.
Gemayel, leader of the Phalange Party, was running to replace his son,
Pierre Gemayel, who was killed in November. The father refused to
admit defeat and demanded a return of the vote in one mainly Armenian
region, where he claimed voter fraud.
"We want elections to be replaced in the Burj Hammoud district,"
Gemayel told supporters in his hometown of Bikfaya.
In a first reaction to the initial results, anti-Syrian MP Walid
Jumblatt said, "The legend of Michel Aoun as the sole Christian leader
has fallen," he told Lebanese satellite television LBCI.
"The next phase will give March 14 Forces (the ruling majority) a
greater chance to chose the next president of the republic from its
own camp, if the destructive Syrian regime allows the elections to
take place on time."
Christian leader and head of the anti-Syrian Lebanese Forces, Samir
Geagea, said, "No matter what are the results, we will accept them."
Geagea spoke from the residence of Amin Gemayel in Bikfaya, north-
east of Beirut.
The Lebanese Parliament faces a challenge in the coming weeks to
elect a president to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. Even
if the majority controls enough seats to elect a new president,
it needs the opposition to take part for the two-thirds quorum that
Parliament traditionally needs to convene.
Sunday’s voting took place amid tight security measures to prevent
any violence between the parties.
Gemayel is a key member in the anti-Syrian majority coalition, backed
by the Western-backed government of Fouad Seniora. Aoun is the
main Christian leader in the opposition, which includes Shiite militant
movement Hezbollah, an ally of Syria and Iran.
In the by-election in Beirut, the opposition had not launched a
challenge. Turnout was around 20 per cent.
Gemayel and his allies accuse Syria of orchestrating the killings of
Pierre Gemayel, Eido and other anti-Syrian figures. Damascus denies
involvement in the killings.