http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Lebanon/10320793.html
Lebanese opposition accepts 'will of the people'
By Mohammed Almezel, Deputy Managing Editor
Last updated: June 08, 2009, 21:51
Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday he accepted the
result of the country's parliamentary election in which a US-backed alliance
defeated his group and its allies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We accept these results," Nasrallah said in a televised address.
Lebanon woke up to a cautious calm on Monday, following a long night of
celebrations in many areas as the pro-Western March 14 bloc stunned their
opponents with a sweeping election victory.
Many questions remain unanswered as to what happened on Sunday, as the
Minister of Interior, Ziad Baroud, holds back-to-back press briefings to
announce the official results, as they come.
The counting is still under way in some districts, especially in mainly
Christian areas where the real battle was fought, like Metn and Zehle.
But the unofficial final results indicate the March 14 coalition, led by
Sunni leader Sa'ad Hariri, has won 71 seats in the 128 seat parliament.
The opposition, led by Shiite group Hezbollah and Christian leader Michel
Aoun, has won 57 seats, one seat less than what it had in the outgoing
parliament.
"The Lebanese people have voted for democracy and freedom. There are no
winners or losers in this election, the only winner is democracy and the
biggest winner is Lebanon," Hariri said in a victory speech early on Monday in
his Beirut palace.
The opposition, which was widely expected to win, conceded defeat and
said it will "accept the will of the people".
But its key member Aoun remained silent. Some member of his block claimed
the election was rigged and called for speedy investigation.
The biggest upset for the opposition was in their Christian stronghold
Zehle, in the eastern Beqaa valley, which the Hariri camp won its seven seats.
"What happened is a farce. I have never seen such a disgraceful process,"
Aoun's ally, MP Hassan Yaqoub, who lost his seat in Zehle.
Today's newspapers said the Sunni votes clinched that district for March
14.
"The sectarian divide gives March 14 another majority," said a front page
headline in the pro-opposition daily Al Akhbar. It said that 27,000 Sunni
voters turned the results around in the district.
The opposition also lost a significant popular vote in such areas as Metn
in the Christian northern mountains and the northern towns of Batroun and
Koura.
The biggest loosers are key opposition figures like former Prime Minister
Omar Karame in Tripoli, MP Osama Saad in Sidon, MP Elie Skaf in Zehle, Minister
of Communications Jebran Basil in Batroun, and Deputy Prime Minister Essam Abu
Jamra in Ashrafieh.
But in the south, Hezbollah and its Amal ally, led by speaker Nabih
Berri, kept their grip on the region winning close to 90 per cent of the
popular vote and all of its 23 seats.
With inputs from wires
Do you think the March 14 victory will bring stability to the country or
create more conflict? Or will nothing change?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
