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Anti-Syrian Lebanese pessimistic
Sunday, June 12, 2005 Posted: 5:04 PM EDT (2104 GMT)



LEBANESE ELECTIONS
AT STAKE: All 128 seats in Parliament. Legislature is
divided equally between Christians and Muslims, with most of the 18 sects getting a slice.

FOUR STAGES: Elections were being held on four consecutive Sundays in different parts of the country, beginning with Beirut on May 29.

ALREADY DECIDED: A total of 17 seats have been won uncontested because there were no challengers.

SOUK EL-GHARB, Lebanon (AP) -- In what appeared to be a major upset, anti-Syrian opposition candidates suffered losses in Lebanon's first parliamentary elections free of Syrian domination, a senior opposition leader conceded Sunday.

Opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, speaking by telephone to Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television, said Michel Aoun, who broke opposition ranks and challenged his former allies with the help of pro-Syrian groups, was winning in contested constituencies.

Aoun's success could hurt the opposition's drive to gain a majority in the legislature, and a strong showing could leave him a key player in the fight over Syrian control.

An empowered Aoun could deny the anti-Syrian opposition a majority and put brakes on their campaign to remove pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

Jumblatt accused Aoun, a former military commander and fierce anti-Syrian who returned from 14 years' exile in May, of being brought in by the Syrians to undermine the opposition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_elections