The Daily STar, Lebanon
March 23 2009

Lebanon’s election race intensifies as parties court allies

By Nafez Qawas
Daily Star correspondent
Monday, March 23, 2009

BEIRUT: The race for seats in Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections
gained momentum over the weekend, as rival coalitions held electoral
rallies and met for talks aimed at forming alliances ahead of the
vote. Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt commented on
Sunday on the abundance of candidates in the Chouf region, saying:
"Let them take my [parliamentary] seat if they want to."

Jumblatt was referring a race among Parliament hopefuls to grab the
seat of MP Nabil al-Boustani, who has reportedly been ill. Jumblatt
reminded the contenders that MP Boustani "is still around and very
alive."

During a tour of the Iqlim al-Kharoub region on Saturday, the head of
the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) said that the March 14 Forces
would run in the elections as a single hand.

Jumblatt also stressed that all weapons would be in the hands of the
Lebanese state one day. He paid tribute to President Michel Sleiman
for "effectively" leading the national dialogue sessions, which have
addressed the issue of weapons.

He also called for ending all internal disputes, particularly the feud
over funding for the Council of the South. Jumblatt also denied press
reports that he had been harassed during the recent funeral of
attorney Sanan Baraj in the Beirut district of Bashoura.

Separately, PSP media officer Rami Rayyes responded on Sunday to
remarks by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, who had urged
Jumblatt to decide what he wants from Damascus. "What the [PSP] party
wants from Syria is an end to meddling in Lebanese affairs," Rayyes
said in a television interview.

He stressed that the PSP had "never" stood in the way of establishing
normal ties between Syria and Lebanon.

Moallem, in an interview with al-Jazeera satellite television on
Saturday, mentioned to his country’s relationship with the PSP chief,
saying: "Jumblatt has to decide what he wants, if he wishes to visit
Syria we shall take that into consideration."

"We basically did not submit such a request," Rayyes stressed.

In other elections-related news, Future Movement leader MP Saad
Hariri, who is currently in Paris on a private visit, met twice on
Thursday and Friday with former Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares to
discuss details related to the upcoming vote, An-Nahar daily reported
on Sunday. Hariri is on Monday expected to visit London, where he will
hold talks with British Foreign Minister David Milliband.

The newspaper also reported that the Armenian Tashnak Party has
reached a decision about its electoral alliances and will inform the
Future Movement leader about it "within days."

On Saturday, An-Nahar said that a meeting between the Phalange Party’s
central committee coordinator, Sami Gemayel, and Tashnak’s secretary
general, Hovig Mekhitarian, in Burj Hammoud did not change the status
quo but the door was still open for a possible understanding between
the two sides.

Gemayel described his meeting on Friday with Mekhitarian as being part
of previous talks.

"What brings us together with the Armenians is more than what
separates us," the son of Phalange leader and former President Amin
Gemayel said.

Tashnak sources told An-Nahar that the party would inform Hariri about
its decision on Monday or Tuesday, adding that talks were ongoing with
MP Michel Murr.

Murr said Friday that he was "keen on maintaining a firm relationship"
with the Tashnak that dates back 50 years.

During a rally on Sunday, Amin Gemayel said the Phlange Party and the
Lebanese Forces would run as allies in the spring elections. He urged
Lebanese groups not to sell "shares from their country to Syria,
Iran."

Meanwhile, LF boss Samir Geagea hosted on Saturday evening candidates
Nayla Tueni and Nadim Gemayel at an LF annual dinner. Tueni and
Gemayel are running for the Orthodox and Maronite seats in Beirut’s
first district.

"Nayla and Nadim both enjoy and encompass the qualities of truth,
transparency and honesty," Geagea said.

"They don’t have the expertise of those who base their knowledge on
criticism and deceit from the ‘war for liberation’ to the ‘current
liberation," he said, in a jab at his rival, MP Michel Aoun.

The LF leader called on Beirut and Achrafieh residents to reject "all
matters which are not related to our history, legacy and struggle."

Meanwhile, the head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance
parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad said the "type of democracy that
was established by the Taif Accord can be practiced when the minority
and the majority agree on one national choice and a unified set of
basic national principles."

During a political lecture in the southern village of Nabatieh
al-Fawqa on Sunday, Raad said, "if we do not make unified national
choices, and instead let the majority make decisions alone, then we
are heading back to the period of Civil War, to which the Taif Accord
put an end."

"In executive issues, which touch on the living conditions of the
citizens, we will refer to the majority and minority," he said.

"However," he added, "if the elected majority says that we have to
reconcile with Israel and forsake resistance, then this issue does not
need a majority and minority: This is toppling national choices and
principles."

"The majority and minority concept can be applied in all the countries
except in Lebanon, because in this country it can only be practiced
when we have principles and fundamentals, which are agreed upon among
the Lebanese and that everyone abides by," he stressed.

In other news, a visiting French minister said Saturday his government
would back "any party" that emerges winner in the upcoming elections.

State Minister for Cooperation and Francophonie Alain Joyandet arrived
in Lebanon on Friday on a two-day visit to attend the World
Francophone Day. "France believes in opening dialogue with everyone in
the Middle East as part of its diplomatic policy," he said in a news
conference following separate talks with President Sleiman and Foreign
Minister Fawzi Salloukh.

"This is why France will support any party to win the legislative
elections and to be chosen by the Lebanese," he added, voicing hope
the June 7 polls would take place in an "atmosphere of calm and
democracy."

He said his trip served as "a continuation of President Sleiman’s
visit to France this week and as a reaffirmation of deep and strong
ties between Lebanon and France."

France’s "diplomatic pressure will remain within the appropriate
framework for the implementation of UN Resolution 1701," Joyandet
said, without elaborating. UN Resolution 1701 put an end to the summer
2006 war with Israel. During his three-day trip to Paris on last week,
Sleiman asked his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy to help pressure
Israel into abiding by the resolution.

"The pace of implementation must be proportionate to existing
pressures and regional dangers," Joyandet added.

Separately, Lebanon’s ambassador to Syria, Michel al-Khoury, will
assume his duties by the end of this month, Al-Liwaa newspaper
reported Saturday. The daily said that career diplomat Khoury, who is
Beirut’s current envoy to Cyprus, will assume his duties before the
end of March, despite earlier media reports that said the ambassador
would travel to Syria in mid-April.

Lebanon opened its first embassy in Syria on Monday, five months after
the establishment of diplomatic ties following decades of turbulent
relations.

Lebanese Charge d’Affaires Rami Mortada raised the Lebanese flag over
the building located in the Damascus residential neighborhood of Abu
Rummaneh, which is also home to the US Embassy. Syria has yet to name
an envoy to Beirut, where it opened an embassy in December that is not
yet fully operational although it has been staffed with three
diplomats.