Western-backed bloc leads Lebanon election
Coalition of Sunnis, Christians and others hold off Hezbollah
BEIRUT, Lebanon – The U.S.-backed political alliance of Lebanese parties claimed to have fended off a strong challenge from a coalition led by Hezbollah on Sunday in a closely watched election that could have major repercussions.
After a peaceful day of voting amid heavy turnout, the Western-backed March 14 coalition of Sunni, Maronite Christian and Druze political parties said it eked out an upset victory over Hezbollah’s alliance, maintaining control over Parliament and the process of choosing a new government.
“Congratulation to freedom,” Saad Hariri, leader of the March 14 coalition and a close U.S. ally, said from his campaign headquarters in West Beirut. “The main winner is Lebanon.”
Representatives of Hezbollah, the formidable Iranian and Syrian-backed political party and military organization, were initially circumspect but did not dispute the March 14 claim of victory.
Official results will be announced today, but preliminary figures cited by the pro-U.S. bloc showed that it had won more than the 64 seats required to maintain its status as a majority.
The election will swing on the outcome of several key districts of the country’s Christian community, which is sharply divided between politicians in the March 14 alliance and the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah.
Preliminary results cited by local media showed that several closely watched Christian districts went against Aoun, who remains a divisive figure, while others hung in the air.
March 14 supporters feared that a victory by Hezbollah and Aoun would turn Lebanon into a second Gaza, an isolated enclave starved of resources and subject to Israeli military incursions. Boutros Sfeir, spiritual leader of Lebanon’s Christian Maronite community, warned Saturday night that the country was in danger, a statement interpreted as a blast against Hezbollah and Aoun.
As results came in, political leaders worked to calm the electorate. The campaign has stoked passions within the Christian community and between Lebanon’s Shiites and Sunnis. The country’s kaleidoscope of communities emerged from a 15-year civil war in the 1990s and nearly descended again into conflict amid a political crisis in May 2008.