Former president loses out in Lebanon election
An opposition candidate defeated a former president backed by the government to win a parliamentary seat, official results of Lebanese elections showed today.
The announcement came after a tense election to replace two assassinated lawmakers that has become a showdown between the pro-US government and opponents supported by Syria and Iran.
In the Lebanese capital Beirut, the government coalition retained a seat virtually unopposed.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese took part in yesterday’s vote, which was largely peaceful and ended at 6pm (4pm Irish time).
It took place amid tight security in two electoral districts, one in Beirut and the other in Mount Lebanon’s Metn region, a Christian stronghold north of Beirut.
Although the vote was for just two seats, it could affect the political future of this deeply divided nation by influencing who lawmakers might elect as president in the next few months.
The key vote was in Metn, a district north of Beirut.
The election there pitted Amin Gemayel, a former president from 1982-88 running on behalf of the government coalition to fill a seat his son held before his assassination last year, against Kamil Khoury, a political newcomer who is supported by Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a former army commander and interim prime minister allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition.
The pro-government coalition retained its seat in Beirut, according to official results.
But in Metn, the government coalition lost the seat by a small margin, the government said.
Before the final results became clear, both sides in Metn accused the other side of fraud. Each had supporters celebrating in convoys on the streets in Beirut and the Metn region.
Witnesses and security officials said partisans of Aoun and Gemayel faced off in a neighbourhood east of Beirut last night, with scores of Lebanese army troops and riot police deployed to prevent trouble.
Antoine Nasrallah, a spokesman for Aoun, also told Al-Jazeera that one of their supporters was wounded in the hand when he was shot at by Gemayel supporters near the town of Bikfaya.
Security officials said one person was slightly injured but did not say from which camp.
A local TV station called the Metn election “the mother of all battles” because it was deemed a key popularity test for Gemayel, the head of one of Lebanon’s most powerful Christian families, and Aoun, who has already announced he would run for president.
Both are Maronite Catholics, as the traditional power-sharing agreement among the country’s various religious sects since the 1943 independence dictates that the president must be.
Lebanon’s government and opposition have been locked in a fierce power struggle for months, and the choice for a new president is viewed as a crucial step to fix whether the US-backed government succeeds or if the pro-Syrian camp prevails.
Both sides declared they had won a few hours after the polls closed.
Voting took place in a “calm and democratic atmosphere” and there was a large turnout, said a statement from the Interior Ministry.
“We have been informed of our victory,” Aoun said through his OTV station.
He accused authorities, however, of seeking to cancel one of the ballot boxes in the district of Jdeideh east of Beirut and asked his supporters to head there.
“We hope that everything goes quietly tonight,” he told reporters.
However, partisan clashes were reported in Jdeideh later yesterday.
Gemayel earlier refused to concede defeat.
“Congratulations for your victory,” he told a crowd of supporters outside his house, to the backdrop of fireworks.
The candidate, who was president of Lebanon for much of the 1980s, said voters had given him “overwhelming support”.
Interior Minister Hassan Sabei, announcing the results before dawn today, declared Khoury the winner in Metn, with an 418 vote edge.
Khoury won with 39,534 votes, against Gemayel’s 39,116 votes. Turnout was 46%.
