Hezbollah is not yet Lebanon

(Photo - AP)
The Lebanese held an election and the results prove Hezbollah is not yet Lebanon - even with the shameful alliance of former General Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement. While some may credit the March 14th alliance win was helped by the Maronite Christian Patriarch speaking out against the pro-Syrian/Hezbollah alliances, I think it far more likely the Patriarch was simply echoing the feeling of most Christian Lebanese. Beirut Daily Star

BEIRUT: Lebanon's opposition conceded defeat against the March 14 coalition in pivotal polls Sunday after weeks of fierce campaigning. "We've lost the election," a senior opposition source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We accept the result as the will of the people." "We'll go back to the way we were," the source added.

The opposition source said the March 14 coalition is expected to ensure between 69 and 70 seats in the 128 parliament. The number matches figures predicted by the March 14 Forces.

(…)The 2009 electoral battle centered in Christian districts, since the results of almost 100 seats of the assembly were decided in advance. As The Daily Star went to press, unofficial results showed the March 14 Forces won by a clean sweep the districts of Beirut I, Batroun, Koura, and Bsharreh, and Tripoli.

According to unofficial results, Prime Minster Fouad Siniora won a parliamentary seat in the coastal city of Sidon. Preliminary results also showed the March 14 Forces as having a chance to win the Bekaa town of Zahle's seven seats. According to unofficial results, the Free Patriotic Movement won all seats in the districts of Kesrouan, Jbeil, Baabda and Jezzine. The results of another decisive district, Metn were still unclear at dawn on Sunday.

Official results are not yet published but by all accounts the March 14th Coalition has only increased its majority slightly. In practicality, this means very little has changed from the last parliament except that Hezbollah’s Christian allies were unable to deliver the votes necessary for a more powerful Hezbollah block in parliament.