HIZBALLAH DEFEATED AT POLLS IN LEBANON!

IT'S A HUGE TURNOUT: GULF DAILY NEWS (BAHRAIN):

Turnout in yesterday's high-stakes Lebanese election pitting a Western-backed coalition against an alliance led by Hizbollah topped 52 per cent - the largest in years, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said.

"Since 1990, and possibly even before, we have not seen such turnout," he said.

AND THE GOOD GUYS WON: GULF TIMES (QATAR): Hariri-led bloc wins elections

A coalition, known as March 14, defeated an alliance composed of Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon’s parliamentary election yesterday

An anti-Syrian coalition defeated Hezbollah and its main Christian ally Michel Aoun in Lebanon’s parliamentary election, sources on both sides said last night.

“We have lost the election,” said a senior politician close to the bloc that includes Shia groups Hezbollah and Amal, as well as Aoun. “We accept the result as the will of the people.”

Christian politician Samir Geagea said he believed the anti-Syrian March 14 coalition, to which his Lebanese Forces party belongs, had won, perhaps only by a narrow margin.

“In my opinion, yes, March 14 ... will return as the majority,” Geagea told LBC television.
A source in the campaign of Saad al-Hariri, the coalition’s Sunni leader, predicted a clear victory, saying the bloc would win at least 70 seats in the 128-member assembly.

Official results are expected this morning

Perhaps 100 of the 128 seats were virtually decided in advance, thanks to sectarian voting patterns and political deals, with Sunni and Shia communities on opposing sides.

The real electoral battle centred on Christian areas, where Aoun was up against former president Amin Gemayel’s Phalange Party, the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea and independents.

Lebanon’s rival camps are at odds over Hezbollah’s guerrilla force, which outguns the Lebanese army, and ties with Syria, which dominated Lebanon for three decades until 2005.

The likeliest outcome of the poll is another “national unity” government, analysts say.

“A national unity government is necessary, conditional on March 14 reaching a victory,” anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said before the preliminary result had emerged.

GATEWAY HAS MUCH MORE.

CAUTION:

DURING THE TIME A COALITION/NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT IS FORMED, I EXPECT HIZBALLAH/SYRIA/IRAN TO ASSASSINATE AS MANY OF THE GOOD GUYS AS THEY CAN.

Update:

Haaretz:

Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, a leading private Christian TV station, projected the pro-Western coalition to win 67 seats in the next parliament, with 52 for Hezbollah and its allies, two for independents and seven undecided.

That would almost replicate the deadlock that existed in the outgoing
parliament, in which the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats and an alliance of Hezbollah and other Shiite and Christian factions had 58.

The leader of the largest bloc in the pro-Western coalition, Saad Hariri, said early Monday in a televised speech that he extends his hand to the losing side to work together and seriously for the sake of Lebanon. He urged supporters to celebrate without provoking opponents.

But despite the conciliatory tone, Lebanon was at risk of sliding again into a political crisis over formation of the next government similar to the one that buffeted the country for most of the last four years.

Hezbollah had veto power in Saniora's Cabinet for the last year, which it won after provoking the worst street clashes since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The pro-Western coalition had vowed not to give Hezbollah and its allies a blocking minority in the new government if they won.

The battle in Christian districts was the decisive factor. Lebanese generally vote along sectarian and family loyalties, with seats for Sunnis and Shiites in the half-Christian, half-Muslim, 128-member parliament already locked up even before the voting started.

Christians in the pro-Western coalition warned that Hezbollah would bring the influence of Shiite Iran to Lebanon. The Maronite Catholic Church made a last-minute appeal, warning that Lebanon as a state and its Arab identity were threatened, a clear reference to Hezbollah and its Persian backer, Iran.

Sunnis were also driven to vote for the pro-Western coalition to get back at Shiite Hezbollah gunmen for seizing the streets a year ago in Beirut from pro-government supporters.

REPEAT: seizing the streets a year ago in Beirut from pro-government supporters.

I THNK HIZBALLAH/SYRIA/IRAN WILL TRY IT AGAIN. TESTING THE COALTION AND OBAMA.