 Pro-Syrian candidates appeared headed for defeat Sunday in Lebanon's first free elections in three decades — a win that would break Damascus' longtime domination of Lebanese political life and its parliament.
| I'd hardly cause that a surprise, even if all they're really doing is switching oligarchies... |
A pro-Syrian leader acknowledged a major defeat for his candidates and an anti-Syrian opposition official said the ticket's unofficial results indicated a near sweep in the contest for 28 parliamentary seats in northern Lebanon. Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian former interior minister who is close to the family of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said: "We bow to the will of the people."
| If you'd done that, you wouldn't be on the outside looking in now, would you? |
Whatever the outcome, however, the Christian-Muslim solidarity that emerged after the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been deeply marred by sectarian divisions.
| We're discussing Lebanon, remember? 20 years ago they were still destroying Beirut and shooting each other dead in the streets. There were so many murderous factions nobody could keep track of them. This is called "progress." |
The divide has only become more acute in the heated competition leading to the final round of voting in the north of the eastern Mediterranean country. The ticket led by the slain prime minister's son, Saad Hariri, must win 21 of the 28 seats in the Sunday vote to gain a majority in the 128-member body. "We're ahead and we're very optimistic," an official in Saad Hariri's camp said after their count indicated they were winning. The unofficial tally by the campaigns of tickets backed by Hariri appeared to guarantee the opposition a majority in the new legislature and break the hold Syria has held in the outgoing parliament for more than a decade. The Syrian army withdrew from Lebanon in April.
| That was an accomplishment in itself, even if the pols and their supporters continue reverting to type... |
Walid Jumblatt, the Druse opposition leader and ally of Hariri who was among the most vocal against Syrian control, declared victory. "We have triumphed in the north," he said, calling the pro-Syrians in parliament "nothing but a bad minority." |