Elections provide Lebanon’s March 14 bloc a comfortable majority

Saeed Dhaher
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-06-11

A Future Movement supporter waves a blue banner at a rally celebrating the victory of the Western-backed coalition in the June 7 general elections in the village of Majdelyoun. (Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty Images)

Lebanon’s closely contested June 7 parliamentary elections left the moderate pro-Western March 14 alliance with a comfortable majority of 71 seats in the Lebanese parliament. The pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian March 8 bloc trailed with 57 seats. Observers characterised the victory of the March 14 Bloc as “a triumph for the legitimate, pluralist view of politics over the illegal, arms-wielding stance of Hezbollah”.

A large percentage of Lebanon’s 3.2 million eligible voters went to the polls to elect 125 out of 128 members of parliament in 26 national constituencies, with 3 seats pre-assigned. Voting took place at 5,181 polling stations in 1,753 voting centres manned by 11,332 polling officers.

Gen Michel Aoun, who had formed a coalition with Hezbollah, failed to pick up the results he expected in Christian neighbourhoods. Aoun suffered his biggest losses in Zahla, where his ticket lost all seven seats; in Beirut’s first district, where five seats went to the victorious camp; and in Al-Kora, where he lost three seats. Aoun’s son-in-law, Minister Gibran Basil, also lost in Batroun. Aoun did, however, manage to retain his eight seats in Kasrouan and Jubail, four seats in Baabda and three in Jizzin.

Future bloc leader Saad Al-Hariri said that the election had “no winners and no losers. The only winner is democracy, and the biggest winner is Lebanon.”

Parliamentary spokesman Nabih Berri observed that, “Lebanon has triumphed over its rivalries and the threat of anarchy and strife. I hope that the elections will lead to a phase in which we can draft a contemporary and modern elections law based on proportional representation. To be bound by the Taif Accord demands that we apply ourselves to implementing all of its provisions impartially.”

Sources: Voice of Lebanon/ AFP/ National agency

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