Syria will not influence Lebanon poll-PM Mikati

By Mariam Karouny

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s forthcoming parliamentary elections, the first for 33 years without Syrian troops in the country, will be fair and free of Syrian influence, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday.

He said his government, installed last month to organize the polls that run from May 29 to June 19, would act impartially.

“There is no more Syrian influence on Lebanon’s daily political life,” Mikati told Reuters in an interview.

“Damascus decided to leave Lebanon,” the Sunni Muslim politician said. “I’m sure it is as far as it can be from influencing the elections. Syria left Lebanon not to interfere.”

Syrian ended its 29-year military presence in its neighbor last month under intense world and Lebanese pressure following the Feb. 14 car bomb blast that killed former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Damascus denied any role in the attack.

Mikati said the head of a U.N. team mandated to investigate the assassination, blamed by many Lebanese on Syria or its local allies, would be in Beirut by the end of the week to start work.

The team, expected to involve about 50 investigators, is led by veteran German prosecutor Delev Mehlis.

Mikati, who has close ties to Syria and business interests there, was accepted as prime minister by Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition to enable the elections to take place on time.

“We are determined that these elections will be fair and transparent,” he said, noting that the European Union and the United Nations had been invited to monitor the polls.

“For the first time in Lebanon, a government welcomes the presence of international monitors to help in observing the elections,” Mikati said.

The EU is sending a team of about 100 observers for the four-stage polls to elect a 128-member parliament, while a U.N. mission is offering technical assistance.