Hezbollah warns its weapons must stay as March 14 wins
Lebanon counted votes on Monday following a crucial election and official results showed that the Western-backed coalition won a majority of parliamentary seats dealing a blow to the Iranian-backed March 8 coalition, led by Hezbollah, which warned that its weapons arsenal was not up for discussion.
The ruling March 14 party won 71 seats out of the 128-seat parliament, maintaining its majority in parliament while Hezbollah and its allies won 21 seats in districts in southern Lebanon and 10 seats in the eastern Baalbek region.
"I thank all the members of the March 14 election machine. They worked day and night to reach this result. I also thank all March 14 supporters all over Lebanon for the effort they made," a triumphant Saad Hariri, who heads the ruling majority, told cheering supporters.
The opposition confirmed defeat and Member of Parliament Hassan Fadlallah from Hezbollah reiterated the Shiite party’s calls for "national partnership" while one politician said it appeared voters had been spooked by fears that the Shiite Muslim group could impose an Islamist state in Lebanon.
"What happened today is a victory for the logic of the state," Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said.
Official breakdown
Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ziad Baroud announced the official breakdown and final results of 14 constituencies out of 26.
Christian Maronites in the Bishri constituency voted 37 percent with Streida Touq and Eli Kiruz winning two seats as representatives while final results of the Baalbek constituency were 49 percent voted for 10 seats in parliament six of which were Shiites, two Sunnis, one Maronite and one Roman Catholic.
In the Sur constituency a winning vote of 48 percent secured four Shiite seats for Abdul Majid Saleh, Mohammed Fneish, Nawaf al-Muswi and Ali Khrees.
A 68 percent majority vote in Sidon got the Sunnis two seats in parliament for Siniora and Bahiya Hariri. In the Maronite majority Jezzine constituency, three seats were for Ziyad Aswad, Michele Helow, while Isaam Sawaya won for the Roman Catholics.
Forty-two percent of the Bint Jebeil constituency voted for three Shiite seats in parliament won by Hassan Fadlallah, Ali Bazi and Ayoub Hamid.
Under Lebanon’s complex power-sharing system, seats are divided equally between majority Muslims and minority Christians, who make up about a third of the four-million population.
Hezbollah’s weapons
As soon as the results were out Hezbollah warned that its weapons arsenal was not a subject open to discussion and said the majority must not start to question the movement.
"The majority must commit not to question our role as a resistance party, the legitimacy of our weapons arsenal and the fact that Israel is an enemy state," Hezbollah official Mohamed Raad said.
"The results indicate that the crisis will continue, unless the majority changes its attitude," said Raad, an MP who kept his seat in the new parliament.
Hezbollah’s arsenal was scrutinized by the outgoing national unity government and was at the center of a national dialogue to define a defense strategy for Lebanon.
Israel launched a devastating war against Hezbollah in 2006 that left much of south Lebanon in ruins and killed more than 1,200 people, mainly Lebanese civilians, as well as 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
Israeli reaction
Israel’s foreign ministry said that the new government in Lebanon must act to prevent attacks from its territory.
"It is incumbent upon any government that is formed in Beirut to ensure that Lebanon will not be used as a base for violence against the state of Israel and against Israelis," a ministry statement said.
"The government of Lebanon must act to strengthen the country’s stability and security, to stop arms smuggling into its territory and to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions," it said.
"Israel considers the Lebanese government responsible for any military or otherwise hostile activity that emanates from its territory."