Today is the final round in Lebanon’s high-stakes elections. The bottom line of what’s at stake: whether Lebanon will get out from underneath Syria’s grip. One leading candidate now claims that grip is just a “rumor.”
An enormous amount is hanging in the balance and there is considerable drama as to which way it will go. The AP notes:
The election is Lebanon’s first ballot free of Syrian domination in almost three decades, after Syrian forces pulled out in April. With Damascus’ direct hand gone, its allies and its opponents are battling it out for influence.
But it may be tough for the anti-Syrian opposition to seize the clear control it was hoping for. The main opposition alliance led by the son of slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri must win 21 of the 28 seats up for grabs Sunday to have a majority in the 128-member parliament.
It was thwarted in racking up the majority in previous rounds by former ally Michel Aoun who is allied with both anti- and pro-Syrian figures and made a surprisingly strong showing in voting held in different parts of the country since May 29….
The leader of the opposition, Saad Hariri, a Sunni, is counting on the Muslim vote to add to his previous successes within the Sunni community in earlier voting. Clerics in mosques have been urging voters to back the ticket of Hariri’s Future Movement and their allies.
Voice of America reports:
The anti-Syrian opposition bloc led by Saad Hariri, the son of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the leader of the Druze, Walid Jumblatt have been staging rallies in Tripoli and other main cities in the north in the hopes are securing at least 21 of the final 28 seats and gaining a majority in the parliament.
The opposition bloc had originally expected to easily win a majority, riding on a wave of sympathy that began with the assassination of Rafik Hariri in February. But General Aoun returned from a 14 year Syrian imposed exile in early May and split from the opposition.
Many young supporters of General Aoun like Mark Sawma, say he represents change for Lebanon because he did not contribute to the debt that has accumulated since the end of the civil war in 1990….
After a strong showing of support in the third round of elections, General Aoun, a Christian, says he is considering a bid for the presidency. Distribution of top offices in Lebanon is based on religious lines and the office of the presidency is traditional reserved for a Christian.
And the campaign seems like a no-holds-barred campaign, just like you see in many other democracies, as this story from Lebanon’s Daily Star shows:
Leading opposition MP Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated former Premier Rafik Hariri, has been staying in the North for the last week in order to boost support for his broad based alliance, was yesterday accused by political rival Aoun, of “vote-buying.”
The FPM leader said: “During the election, those people have been buying consciences. How can I say that someone who is corrupting consciences, who is violating them with money, is going to fight corruption when he is the corrupter-in-chief?”
Hariri held a huge electoral rally in Akkar, calling for supporters to vote in force.
He said: “Don’t waste the sacrifices Rafik Hariri made. Please, go vote for the political line Hariri believed in and for the continuation of Hariri’s dream, which started in Beirut. Vote for the unity of Lebanon.”
Hariri pointedly did not meet with religious leaders during his tour of the North because, in his words, he wanted to “stress the non-sectarian character” of his party.
And Aoun, for his part, downplays and even denies continued Syrian influence:
Aoun, who has formed an unlikely alliance with pro-Syrian politicians despite being driven by Damascus into 15 years of exile in France, also rejected charges by the opposition that Syrian intelligence officers had remained in Lebanon after April’s troop pullout and were interfering in elections.
He said: “The Syrian presence is a rumor.”
Aoun said Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa, who has said Syrian agents were intimidating voters, ought to step down for failing in his duty to ensure a free and fair electoral process.
He added: “The interior minister pretends some Syrian officers are interfering in the elections. He has to resign because his duty is to arrest them and send them to trial.”
Here’s a timeline of major recent events in Lebanon.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.