Lebanese elections

Official results released a day after Lebanon's hotly-contested parliamentary election have confirmed the pro-Western coalition has held on to its majority. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud confirmed the 14 March coalition of Saad Hariri had won 71 seats in the 128-member body, one more than four years ago.

Hassan Nasrallah, head of militant movement Hezbollah, said he accepted the outcome. "I would like to congratulate all those who won, those in the majority and those in the opposition," he said. Hezbollah-led bloc won 58 seats.

The turnout was 54%, Mr Baroud said, the highest percentage among Lebanon's three million voters since the 1975-91 civil war. Lebanon is a country of deeply-fragmented religious sects, and this election broadly pitted Shia Muslim supporters of Hezbollah against Sunni Muslims and Druze supporting the 14 March coalition.

The crucial electoral showdown had been between Christian rivals, who although they make up only one-third of the population are constitutionally guaranteed an equal half share of parliamentary seats. The influential Christian Maronite community was split between established Western-orientated factions and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of former army chief Michel Aoun, which joined the pro-Syria faction in 2006.
Analysts say another fragile unity government is likely from this result.

bbc

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Solana and Presidency both hail smooth Lebanese elections

The elections in Lebanon are an important step in the democratic evolution of the Middle East, High Representative of the CFSP Javier Solana has said. Both Solana and the EU Presidency issued statements welcoming the peaceful and orderly way in which the parliamentary elections were held on 7 June.

Euromedinfo

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Obama pledges support for new Lebanon government

"The United States will continue to support a sovereign and independent Lebanon, committed to peace, including the full implementation of all United Nations Security Council resolutions," Obama said in a statement following the election victory by a pro-Western coalition against Hezbollah and its allies.

Reuters

No clear winner in Lebanon votes

BBC

Lebanon is now facing its biggest political crisis since the end of its long civil war. It is trapped between the forces that look to Syria and those in the government who look West. The US-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the weekend's by-elections "were a civilised response to political assassination".

But in truth they have changed very little. In fact they could even have cemented the divisions. Perhaps the only cause for celebration was the size of the turnout on Sunday. Despite concerns of further violence, people came to vote in their thousands.

The closest battle was in the Christian heartland of Metn - where they voted to replace the murdered MP Pierre Gemayel. Running for the vacant seat was Pierre's father, Amin Gemayel, a leading Christian figure, former president and staunch supporter of the anti-Syria government. The lesser known candidate, Dr Camille Khoury, stood for the opposition party of the other main Christian leader, General Michel Aoun.

In the end Mr Khoury took the seat by just 418 votes out of about 79,000 cast, a margin which many say undermines General's Aoun's leadership.

He had claimed - based on the results of parliamentary elections in 2005 - to enjoy 70% of the Christian vote. But this suggests he has gone backwards.

Gen Aoun is not a "pro-Syrian". In fact as prime minister in the 80s he fought the Syrians. But as a presidential candidate for the crucial upcoming election in September, he is the preferred choice of the pro-Syrian Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, which is allied to Damascus.

Crucially, the presidency is always reserved for the leading Christian Maronite. A closer look at this vote shows it was Amin Gemayel who took two-thirds of the Maronite vote. Victory for Gen Aoun's party, was only guaranteed by the minority Armenian Christians - it seems almost all of their 8,000 votes went with General Aoun's candidate.

It leaves the Christian community bitterly divided - and the future presidency very much in doubt. Both government and opposition will claim to have the Christian vote.

Bleak warning
In the other by-election in West Beirut, to replace Walid Eido, the vote went, as expected, to the Sunni candidate, put forward by the majority leader Saad Hariri.

But all in all, this will have been a disappointing night for the anti-Syrian government. In the past year, they have lost two seats to the assassins and only regained one of them.

The standoff between the anti-Syrian government and pro-Syrian opposition will continue, with little sign of any breakthrough.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister who is mediating between the two sides, has already warned that if they cannot find a compromise on many of the issues that divide them Lebanon could soon return to civil war.