SYRIA: The anti-Syrian coalition took all 28 seats in Sunday's final round of voting in Lebanon's parliamentary poll, breaking the hold pro-Syrian politicians had on the legislature.
Voters in the north of the country cast their ballots for the list headed by the Sunni businessman Saad Hariri, son of the slain premier and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, giving the coalition a comfortable majority of 72 in the 128-member national assembly. Among the losers were political veterans like former prime minister Omar Karami and senior ministers Michel Murr and Suleiman Frangie.
The triumph of the anti-Syrian list in this round amounted to a major defeat for Mr Hariri's more pro-Syrian challengers, Michel Aoun, who returned from 14 years in exile to campaign, and the Shia Hizbullah-Amal alliance. Gen Aoun's list has 21 seats in parliament while the Shia list won 35.
Now that the election is over, the political forces in the new parliament are expected to follow traditional post-poll policy by moving quickly to put an end to verbal contestation, reconcile and reach a consensus on how to proceed. Parliament's first order of business will be the formation of a new cabinet. It is predicted that since Mr Hariri has no experience in government, caretaker premier Najib Mikati, who was appointed in mid-April to conduct the election, could preside for the time being over a new line-up of ministers, including Mr Hariri.
Mr Mikati, who enjoys good relations with both the anti- Syrian opposition and Damascus, is seen as a neutral technocrat. Mr Hariri has already assumed the political mantle of his father, Rafiq Hariri who was assas- sinated in February, and could take up the premiership after gaining some experience.
The new cabinet is certain to establish a new modus vivendi with Lebanon's larger neighbour Syria, which dominated the Lebanese political scene for 29 years before withdrawing its troops at the end of April.
Dr Bouthaina Shaaban, official Syrian spokeswoman and minister of emigres, told The Irish Times, "Both the Syrian government and people want relations to pick up quickly in order to reflect the deep relationship of the two peoples. We want to institutionalise relations on the economic and social levels, leaving politics for later on."