BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Western-backed coalition claimed victory yesterday in the nation’s parliamentary election setting the stage for tough negotiations on forming a new government.
Results declared by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud showed Saad Hariri’s bloc had won 71 of Parliament’s 128 seats, against 57 for an opposition alliance that groups Hezbollah and Amal with Christian leader Michel Aoun.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah yesterday acknowledged the defeat of his opposition alliance. “We accept the official results in a sporting spirit,” he said in a televised address a day after the polls.
Nasrallah, appearing graceful in defeat, also congratulated his political rivals. “I would like to congratulate all those who won, those in the majority and those in the opposition,” he said.
Hariri’s total includes three independents who ran on his lists in Sunday’s election, which many had predicted would produce a slim victory for Hezbollah and its partners.
US President Barack Obama, commenting on the election results, said Lebanon was now on the path to stability and independence, but warned the new government must govern by consent not coercion.
“It is our sincere hope that the next government will continue along the path toward building a sovereign, independent and stable Lebanon,” Obama said in a statement.
Obama warned: “Government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: You must maintain your power through consent, not coercion.” But he congratulated the Lebanese people on the outcome of the elections, and vowed the United States “would continue to support a sovereign and independent Lebanon, committed to peace, including the full implementation of all United Nations Security Council Resolutions. “The high turnout and the candidates — too many of whom know personally the violence that has marred Lebanon — are the strongest indications yet of the Lebanese desire for security and prosperity,” the US president said.
“Once more, the people of Lebanon have demonstrated to the world their courage and the strength of their commitment to democracy.”
A 100-strong European Union observer mission concluded in a statement that the vote had been contested “in a polarized but generally peaceful environment within an improved legal framework which nevertheless needs further reform.” The head of the EU mission, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, told a news conference: “I hope that all political parties will put aside the disputes of the past to build a common future for all citizens based on compromise and consensus.” But analysts expected lengthy horse-trading between and within rival blocs before the next Cabinet is formed.
Hariri has previously said the opposition could join a unity government, but without the veto power it has demanded in the past — and achieved under a Qatari-mediated deal that followed an armed showdown in the streets of Beirut in May 2008.
Hezbollah sees veto rights as vital to fend off any challenge to its status as a group resisting Israel.
The election result renewed the mandate Hariri first won in a 2005 poll after Syrian troops left Lebanon amid an outcry over the assassination of his statesman father Rafik Hariri.
Hariri nominated Fouad Siniora to lead the last government, but is viewed as front-runner to take his place, following in the footsteps of his slain father, who as prime minister oversaw Lebanon's post-civil war rebuilding.
The French Foreign Ministry expressed confidence that President Michel Suleiman would ensure swift formation of a new government that “takes the country on the path of reforms.” “This vote, marked by a high-level of participation, illustrates the vitality of Lebanese democracy,” it said.
Hezbollah and Amal swept the vote in mainly Shiite areas, but defeat for Aoun in the key Christian districts of Zahleh and Ashrafiyeh deprived the alliance of the majority it had sought.
The EU observer mission said vote-buying had marred the election. “Financial resources played an excessively large role in the campaign and new regulations on spending have yet to have any notable effort on this phenomenon,” it added.
