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Hariri's son rises to power in Beirut

BY MOHAMAD BAZZI | MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

May 30, 2005

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A slate of candidates led by the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri appeared to have swept the initial round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections yesterday, the first balloting held in 30 years without the shadow of civil war or Syrian military domination.

The 19 candidates led by Saad Hariri were set to win all the legislative seats in Beirut, according to preliminary results announced last night. But only 28 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, the lowest turnout for a national Lebanese election in decades. In some Christian neighborhoods, turnout was as low as 10 percent.

Experts attributed the low turnout to the fact that nine of the 19 seats in Beirut were uncontested, with Hariri's allies winning them by default before a single ballot was cast. In addition, a Christian political party led by the once-exiled former army commander Michel Aoun had urged a boycott of the Beirut elections. Aoun's party, which had no candidates running in Beirut, is competing in other regions. Three more rounds of balloting will be held in different parts of the country over the next three Sundays.

Soon after polls closed, hundreds of people gathered outside the Hariri family compound in central Beirut. Saad Hariri stood on a balcony, waving to the cheering crowd.

"With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Saad," a group of young men shouted, waving the blue flags of Hariri's Future Movement.

"This is a victory for Rafik Hariri. The blood of Rafik Hariri will not go in vain," Saad Hariri told the crowd. The young Hariri, 35, had never been involved in politics before the assassination of his father Feb. 14.

Rafik Hariri's supporters blamed his killing on Syria and its allies in the Lebanese security services, a charge Damascus denied. The assassination prompted international pressure and a wave of popular protests that led to the resignation of the Syrian-backed Lebanese government and to the withdrawal of Syrian troops last month. Syria had kept troops in Lebanon since 1976, a year after the start of a civil war. But when the war ended in 1990, Syrian troops remained and Syria's influence extended to all parts of Lebanon's political and economic life.

The anti-Syrian opposition is expected to win a majority in the 128-member parliament. Once a new legislature is in place at the end of June, it is expected to name a new cabinet and perhaps seek to replace the Syrian-backed Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud. Under Syrian pressure, the Lebanese parliament in September extended Lahoud's six-year term for three years, an act that drove Rafik Hariri to turn against Syria.

Saad Hariri used his father's killing as a theme throughout the campaign. On buildings and billboards across Beirut, there were posters of the slain Hariri looming over his son. Other posters showed only Rafik Hariri's face with the words, "With you." It urged voters to select the "slate of the martyred former prime minister."

That strategy appeared to work with voters, many of whom know little about Saad Hariri.

"I am here to vote for the sake of our martyr, Rafik Hariri," said Nabiha Jaber, 56, a housewife, holding in her leathery hand a piece of paper listing the "martyr's" slate. "He died to protect us all."

Some Lebanese stayed away from the polls because they want an end to the sectarian political system that has governed Lebanon since its independence from France in 1943. When the structure was put in place, Christians were a slight majority in Lebanon. Under this system, the country's president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. The 128 seats in parliament are equally divided among Christians and Muslims, even though Christians are now estimated to make up only a third of the population.

"We need a modern political system where we don't choose our leaders based on their religion," said Ahmad Rifai, 46, an architect who was strolling along Beirut's seaside Corniche. "Until that happens, I don't want to vote for anyone."