LEBANON’S RULING COALITION HANGS ON TO POWER
U.TV
http://u.tv/News/Lebanons-ruling-coali tion-hangs-on-to-power/362c852f-ad35-47c9-b576-c38 9683c753c
June 8 2009
US-backed governing alliance sees off strong challenge from Hezbollah
in parliamentary elections
Lebanon’s US-backed ruling coalition has emerged victorious in a
dramatic reversal of fortune after polls showed it losing its slim
majority to a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.
The tally announced by the interior ministry for the 128 parliamentary
seats showed the winning coalition with 68, while the Hezbollah-led
alliance had 57. Three seats went to independents.
Despite scenes of jubilations from supporters of Saad Hariri, the
leader of the governing coalition, who is now expected to become prime
minister, the allocation of seats was largely unchanged from the last
parliament, pointing to a continuation of Lebanon’s political deadlock.
Israel, which warned before the elections that a Hezbollah victory
could further destabilise the Middle East, appeared relieved by the
results. Tzahi Hanegbi, who heads the parliamentary committee in
charge of foreign affairs and defence, said the initial indications
from Lebanon were positive.
"We can say that, after many years in which the leading trend in the
Middle East was the clear strengthening of the radical camp, the camp
that puts Israel and the US in its crosshairs, then yesterday might
have been a reversal of the trend," he told Army Radio.
Appearing to concede defeat, the Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah told
the Hezbollah-run al-Manar television station: "Whatever the results
are, it won’t change the sensitive equilibrium. Lebanon’s only choice
is consensus."
The celebrations began last night on the streets of Beirut, with
supporters of the ruling coalition blaring car horns, letting off
fireworks and flying party colours.
Voters had queued patiently all day outside polling booths, many for
several hours, watched over by 50,000 soldiers and police in what
monitors said was Lebanon’s most free and fair parliamentary election
to date.
Isolated voting booths, indelible ink and a voter education campaign
launched by the interior ministry made the elections a significant
improvement on 2005, with turnout averaging more than 50%.
The vote pitted a moderate Sunni-led government, supported by the
west, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, against an opposition led by Hezbollah,
the Middle East’s most powerful militant group, which fought Israel
in the devastating 2006 war and is financed by Iran’s Shia government.
Presidential elections will take place in Iran on Friday, and fears
about growing Iranian influence were evident among some Lebanese
voters. "My main concern is for the army to be the only ones to carry
arms," said Georges Abdo, a Christian hairdresser who voted for the
ruling coalition.
Such fears were dismissed by voters supporting the Hezbollah-led
coalition. "We don’t listen to everything Hezbollah says," said Harout
Vartanian, a 30-year-old Armenian kung fu champion who said he was
voting with the opposition to secure his community’s representation
in cabinet.
There were widespread reports of vote-buying before the poll, with
some Lebanese expatriates being offered free air tickets home. Though
voting passed off largely without incident, tensions in the capital
and the battleground Christian towns remained high, with the army
imposing a midnight curfew on the capital.
The Christian leader, Michel Aoun, redrew the political map in 2005
when he forged an unlikely alliance with Hezbollah, weathering fierce
criticism from opponents. His FPM has defended its alliance with
Hezbollah as helping to stabilise Lebanon rather than give Hezbollah
a platform for renewed conflict with Israel.
"If the west wants to make serious negotiations with Islamist groups
like Hezbollah, then the FPM has set a precedent," Ziad Abs, who
negotiated the FPM’s alliance, told the Guardian. "The main threat
to us is from Israel. There can be no stability in Lebanon without
peace in the region."
While the US continues to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation,
Barack Obama has offered dialogue with Iran and is sending his Middle
East envoy, George Mitchell, to the region this week to work on an
Arab-Israeli peace deal, with a visit to Damascus expected.
In a break with US policy, Britain announced in March that it would
re-establish contact with Hezbollah politicians, making a distinction
between the group’s armed wing and its politics.
Hezbollah, boosted by its war against Israel, provoked a political
crisis in 2007-2008 with demands for veto power over government
decisions. It carried out a series of protests and set up a tent city
in central Beirut, paralysing the commercial heart of the Lebanese
capital. The showdown culminated in street battles that brought the
country to the edge of another civil war.
An agreement to end the violent confrontation gave Hezbollah veto
power over major government decisions.
This time, the pro-western coalition vowed not to give Hezbollah
and its allies a blocking minority in the new government if it won,
maintaining that the arrangement paralysed decision-making. Hezbollah
and its allies have countered that sharing power ensured peace. A
failure by the parties to agree on how to share power could set the
stage for another round of confrontation.