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Aoun headed for win in Lebanon vote
 Polling stations in Lebanon have closed with initial results showing former general Michel Aoun winning fierce electoral battles against rival anti-Syrian opposition groups in key districts. At stake in the third round of parliamentary elections are 35 seats representing the central Mount Lebanon district and another 23 for the eastern Bekaa Valley. Preliminary results indicate a sweeping victory for electoral tickets backed by Aoun in Mount Lebanon's mainly Christian Kesrwan-Byblos and Upper Metn districts. Aoun, a former general who spent 14 years in exile in France following a failed "war of liberation" against Syrian troops in 1989, returned to Lebanon on 7 May, shortly after Syrian forces withdrew from the country. Counts conducted in 278 of 336 polling stations in Kesrwan-Byblos showed that Aoun maintained a substantial lead over opponent candidates, winning at least 55,000 votes. Opposition alliance candidate Mansour al-Bon, was trailing with 27,000 votes by the latest count. Aoun's list comprises prominent pro-Syrian politicians including Druze leader Talal Erslan in the Baabda-Aley district, former minister Elias Skaff in the Bekaa's Zahle district and former interior minister Suleiman Franjieh, who will be running in the last round of elections in the north next week. A coalition of Christian groups, including the Christian Lebanese Forces, headed by jailed Christian leader Samir Geagea, and Christian Qornet Shehwan Gathering, embraced by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, ran against Aoun's ticket in the Kesrwan-Byblos district. Other members of the coalition included the Phalange Reform Movement, headed by former President Amin Gemayel and the Future Movement, headed by Saad al-Hariri. In the Upper Metn, the list backed by Aoun and pro-Syrian former interior minister Michel Murr also won with only one seat going to an opponent candidate, MP Pierre Gemayel of the Phalange Reform Movement. Posted by: Fred 2005-06-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=121502 |