Lebanon opposition in crucial talks to save polls

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition met for crucial talks ahead of disputed polls later this month, amid growing rifts and warnings from the Maronite Church over constituency boundaries and calls for elections to be delayed.

The meeting, which opened mid-morning, was marred by the absence of key opposition figures like Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Sunni candidate Saadeddin Hariri, the son of slain prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Christian heavyweights such as hardliner Michel Aoun and former president Amine Gemayel also failed to attend the meeting which was expected to adopt a common strategy for the four-stage elections due to start May 29.

"The opposition will end up by agreeing on a solution that satisfies everyone," Christian MP Nassib Lahud told AFP on the sidelines of the meeting.

Lebanon Christian leader slams election law

BEIRUT (AFP) - Christian hardline leader Michel Aoun, who returned home at the weekend after 15 years in exile, savaged Lebanon's electoral laws that have set the framework for polls planned to start this month.

He said that the Syrian-tailored electoral law of 2000 that breaks Lebanon into large constituencies marginalises Lebanon's Christian community which wants smaller voting areas.

"We will never submit ourselves to this situation and we reject folkloric meetings that are held to promote the scenarios of alliances that are nothing but treachery and falsehood," he said.

His comments, made following talks with Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, came hours after Lebanon's Maronite bishops warned the law would disrupt the country's fragile Christian-Muslim coexistence.

Lebanon Church Seeks New Election Law

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's powerful Maronite Catholic Church on Wednesday rejected the election law drafted under Syrian dominance as unfair and asked that it be revised before parliamentary elections this month that have been pushed by Washington.

Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir did not call for a boycott or postponement of the elections slated to begin May 29, but his challenge to the election law could further complicate efforts to start the vote on time.

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