March 14 coalition retains majority after parliamentary elections
BEIRUT: Lebanon's opposition conceded defeat against the March 14 coalition in pivotal polls Sunday after weeks of fierce campaigning. "We've lost the election," a senior opposition source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We accept the result as the will of the people." "We'll go back to the way we were," the source added. The opposition source said the March 14 coalition is expected to ensure between 69 and 70 seats in the 128 parliament. The number matches figures predicted by the March 14 Forces. Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt on Sunday warned the March 14 Forces against "isolating the other party." The 2009 electoral battle centered in Christian districts, since the results of almost 100 seats of the assembly were decided in advance. As The Daily Star went to press, unofficial results showed the March 14 Forces won by a clean sweep the districts of Beirut I, Batroun, Koura, and Bsharreh, and Tripoli.
Opposition source concedes defeat, accepts 'will of people'
By Mirella Hodeib
Daily Star staff
Monday, June 08, 2009
According to unofficial results, Prime Minster Fouad Siniora won a parliamentary seat in the coastal city of Sidon.
Preliminary results also showed the March 14 Forces as having a chance to win the Bekaa town of Zahle's seven seats.
According to unofficial results, the Free Patriotic Movement won all seats in the districts of Kesrouan, Jbeil, Baabda and Jezzine.
The results of another decisive district, Metn were still unclear at dawn on Sunday.
Official figures for all districts are expected to be announced by noon Monday.
A strong Hizbullah showing in the polls, especially in Shiite areas in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley would further underline the group's determination to ignore domestic and international pressures to disarm.
Exit polls indicated that Hizbullah and Amal made clean sweeps in the south Lebanon districts of Nabatieh, Marjayoun, Hasbaya, and Tyre. Bint Jbeil, and Zahrani.
Hizbullah and its ally Shiite Movement Amal called Sunday's polls a referendum on the resistance's arms.
"Today's polls are a referendum on the path of resistance, unity and liberation," Speaker and leader of the Amal Movement Nabih Berri told reporters after he cast his vote in the southern village of Tebnin.
Sunday's polls were marked with euphoric scenes, with hundreds of thousands of Lebanese converging to polling stations all across the country to cast their votes.
Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud told a news conference that the day-long polls saw the biggest turnout in years. According to official numbers made available to the Interior Ministry the overall voter turnout reached 54.8 percent. "The Lebanese can hold their head up," Baroud said, explaining that the Lebanese authorities and people "were up to the challenge of holding elections on one day." Baroud said elections were "far from being perfect," but that "the Interior Ministry will learn from mistakes and try to avoid them in next sessions." "Today's elections resemble the Lebanese [people's] democratic spirit," Baroud said. Also on Sunday, President Michel Sleiman cast his vote in his home town of Amchit, near Jbeil, early in the morning. He highlighted that he supported all candidates and that his sole concern was to strengthen democracy. "Election day reflects democracy in Lebanon, which we should preserve," he said. Sleiman said the national dialogue process would continue, adding that the next session would be scheduled according to the elections' outcome and the formation of a new cabinet. "The new government will be a national unity cabinet," Sleiman stressed. On Sunday, authorities appeared overwhelmed by the crowds of people who began lining up even before polling stations opened, with many Lebanese complaining of long waits of up three hours to cast their ballots. Some 50,000 soldiers and police fanned out nationwide to prevent any outbreak of violence while more than 200 foreign observers, including former US president Jimmy Carter, monitored the election. The polls were held under international supervision with a few hundred observers at the polling stations. International and local observers said on Sunday that Lebanon's general election appeared free of any flagrant violations despite some organizational problems and isolated security incidents. The issues that were raised are not dissimilar from those raised in any election," said John Sununu, a former US senator overseeing the election with the National Democratic Institute headed by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
