LEBANON'S ruling pro-western coalition has won a startling election victory over militant group Hezbollah and its allies.
Early yesterday, its supporters filled the streets of capital Beirut, setting off fireworks and proclaiming victory. Others took to their cars and honked horns in celebration as the flags of their parties fluttered from windows and sunroofs across t
he city.
Fireworks also erupted in the night sky above the mansion of Saad Hariri, leader of the 14 March coalition and the billionaire Sunni politician who is now expected to become prime minister. The post was held five times by his father, Rafik, whose assassination in 2005 triggered a prolonged crisis in the troubled Middle Eastern nation.
in a victory speech shortly after midnight, Mr Hariri said: "Congratulations to Lebanon, congratulations to democracy, congratulations to freedom.There are no winners and losers in this election, the only winner is democracy and the biggest winner is Lebanon."
The election was the first major political test in the Middle East since US president Barack Obama called last week for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims".
The next test will be Iran's presidential election on Friday, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be trying to fend off rivals who advocate less confrontation with the West.
A Hezbollah win in Lebanon would have boosted the influence of its backers in Tehran and Syria, and risked pushing one of the area's most volatile nations into international isolation and further conflict with Israel.
With the 14 March coalition winning 71 seats and Hezbollah and its allies taking 57, analysts say the likeliest outcome of the poll is another "national unity" government.
However, its formation might not go smoothly if the Hezbollah camp insists on a veto power that it won last year after provoking the worst street clashes since the 1975-1990 civil war. Tensions have been kept in check since then, but negotiations over the formation of a new government could provoke further turmoil.
Mr Hariri's campaign manager, Ammar Houry, told The Scotsman: "We will not give them another veto in parliament. It's time for Lebanon to move forward as a state."
But Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah warned: "Whoever wants political stability, the preservation of national unity and the resurrection of Lebanon will find no choice but to accept the principle of consensus."
Although Hezbollah and its allies swept the vote in mainly Shiite areas to the south of the country, their Christian ally, former prime minister Michael Aoun, was defeated by the government in two key Christian districts, depriving the alliance of the slim majority many analysts had predicted.
Fears about growing Iranian influence were particularly evident in Christian areas, which formed the primary battleground of the campaign. "I don't want Lebanon to become a weapon of the Iranian state like Hezbollah" said Elio Akel, a Christian taxi driver who voted for the ruling coalition.
The Maronite Catholic Church also exercised its influence with Lebanese Christians by warning that Lebanon as a state and its Arab identity were threatened by the outcome of the elections, in a clear reference to Hezbollah and Persian Iran's influence.
But it may have been Mr Aoun's own actions that dealt the final blow to the opposition's chances of winning a majority. A campaign manager from a party linked to the ruling coalition said: "Aoun really could have won this for the opposition, but he angered Christians in the two weeks just before the elections."
According to the source, Mr Aoun's decision to field his own candidate in a Greek Orthodox constituency and comments he made about assassinated former president Bashir Gemayel, an iconic figure in Lebanese politics, deeply offended many Christians and cost him votes in the areas he most needed to win.
