Lebanon Moderates Turn Attention

BEIRUT -- After widening its majority in weekend parliamentary elections, a Western-backed coalition here now must form a new government, a task almost a fraught as the election itself.

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Lebanese Muslim women lined up to cast their votes at a polling station in the northern city of Tripoli.

The March 14 movement won 71 seats in Lebanon's 128-seat body, increasing its parliamentary hold by one. The opposition came away with 57 seats, according to official results released by the interior ministry Monday afternoon. Many pollsters had expected the opposition to make gains--if not capture an outright majority-- because of redistricting since the last polling in 2005.

From Washington and across the Middle East, the vote was seen as a proxy battle between the influence of the West and its Arab allies on one side, and Iran and Syria on the other. But the smooth formation of a new government here could be a more important test of March 14's political strength.

Saad Hariri, the son of slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and leader of March 14, has said he plans to invite the opposition into the next government. But he and his allies want to remove the veto power the opposition now wields over most government policy.

Reuters) - The economy of Lebanon, which held a parliamentary election on Sunday, has shown what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described as "remarkable resilience" in the face of the global financial crisis.

Following are some of the economy's main features:

GROWTH

The economy grew more than 8 percent in 2008 according to the IMF, despite a first half marred by the worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war and the onset of the global financial crisis. Policymakers project growth of 4 percent or more in 2009.

HEFTY PUBLIC DEBT

Lebanon's public debt burden is one of the heaviest in the world at around 162 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), much of it incurred as a result of reconstruction after the civil war. The debt was measured at $47.21 billion in February, around 44 percent of it in foreign currency, according to the finance ministry. The government has cited progress in reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 162 percent from around 180 percent in 2006. Moody's recently upgraded Lebanon's sovereign ratings, citing a substantial improvement in its external liquidity and the proven resistance of public finances to shocks. The state's deficit for 2009 is projected at around 12 percent of GDP.

The final result in Sunday's knife-edge parliamentary election was expected to hinge on which way the divided Christian community votes in a few important districts.

from the June 7, 2009 edition

Zahle, Lebanon - Dozens of Lebanese voters thronged a polling station in this Christian town Sunday morning, waiting patiently in the brilliant sunshine to participate in an election that will have ramifications far beyond Lebanon's small borders.

Hundreds of voters, many of them clad in brightly colored clothes of orange, blue, red, and yellow reflecting their political affiliations, descended on the polls as they opened at 7 a.m. local time.

The election pits the Western-backed March 14 bloc against an opposition coalition. As voting began, it was impossible to predict the result of this knife-edge electoral race, with possibly as few as two or three seats in the 128-seat parliament deciding the outcome.

The final result is expected to hinge on which way the divided Christian community votes in a few key districts, including the Greek Catholic town of Zahle, tucked into a valley on the western flank of the Bekaa Valley. Many Christians, along with Sunnis and Druze, support the March 14 ruling coalition.

"I'm voting for March 14," says Paula Maalouf, displaying her purple-stained thumb indicating she had cast her vote. She listed the names of several prominent March 14 figures who were assassinated over the past four years, including Samir Qassir, a journalist who died in a car bomb blast in June 2005, and Gibran Tueni, the general manager of the leading An Nahar newspaper, who was killed by another car bomb in December 2005.

"They sacrificed their lives for our country and we should continue the road that they trod for their memory and for the sake of the Christians in the East," Ms. Maalouf says.

لبنان: انتخاب أم «تصويت»؟

وليد أبي مرشد
أول ما يتبادر إلى ذهن من يراقب الردح الانتخابي المتمادي في لبنان أنها المرة الأولى التي يمارس فيها اللبنانيون حق الاقتراع لمجلس نيابي.. فالخطاب الانتخابي لمعظم المرشحين لا يوفر ما يسمى، في القانون اللبناني، «قدحا وذما»، وفي الشارع شتما وسبابا، وفي أدب الحياة بذاءة وإسفافا.
مناسبة هذه الملاحظة هي التقرير الثاني الذي أصدرته هيئة الإشراف على الحملة الانتخابية في لبنان بعد تحليل 32 ألف تسجيل عائد لأنشطة وكلمات مرتبطة بالنشاط الانتخابي للمرشحين والسياسيين وفيه تخلص إلى الاستنتاج بأن الحملة الانتخابية عززت ما أسمته الهيئة بـ«خطاب الكراهية» المخل بإحكام المادة 68 من قانون الانتخابات النيابية ـ التي تنص على تأمين «التوازن والحياد والامتناع عن خطاب الكراهية» ـ ناهيك بإخلاله باللياقة السياسية وحتى بالآداب العامة في بلد لا يتحمل أمنه ولا اقتصاده لغة التحديات والشتائم.