Zeina Abu Rizk
Daily Star staff

Opposition leaders, fresh from their Metn by-election triumph, are warming relations with the government, but the controversial poll is threatening a cold war among pro-regime politicians and a possible challenge of the results.
Metn MP Nassib Lahoud, an opposition heavyweight and key supporter of Gabriel Murr’s successful campaign for the Orthodox parliamentary seat, is expected to meet with President Emile Lahoud on Friday. The meeting is being regarded as an attempt to restore dialogue between the opposition and loyalist camps, at each other’s throats for most of the Metn campaign.
Nassib Lahoud is expected to convey that the opposition never considered the president involved in the electoral battle and to dismiss rumors that the president was a target in the opposition’s battle against the pro-regime candidate, Myrna Murr.
The last meeting between the two was held almost a year ago when the Democratic Renewal Movement was founded in August and a delegation headed by Nassib Lahoud met with the president.
In perhaps another sign of political maneuvering, Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt, who backed Ghassan Mokheiber in the by-election but called on the Interior Ministry to announce the victory of Gabriel Murr, is expected to visit Bkirki next week.
But dissension among the ranks of the authorities, which emerged even prior to the elections, has intensified noticeably since the unofficial announcement of Gabriel Murr’s victory. According to political sources, Metn MP Michel Murr is angry that his son, Interior Minister Elias Murr, did not notify him of the election’s final results before his Tuesday news conference.
Michel Murr is expected to take the initiative and challenge the election results on behalf of his daughter Myrna, once they are officially announced.
The sources said that Elias Murr contacted the president to inform him about a mistake at the Qaaqour polling station, which gives Gabriel Murr an upper hand in the vote tally.
He also called his father Michel for the same purpose.
But Michel Murr has argued that such a mistake was not up to the Interior Ministry to handle and said that the Higher Vote Tabulation Committee should address the matter.
Elias Murr reportedly told his father that he needed to make further legal consultations on the issue before getting back to him, which he never did. This annoyed Michel Murr, who had predicted a landslide victory for his daughter Myrna and instead saw his hold over Metn, one of the most visibly powerful pillars of the political establishment, badly shaken.
Michel Murr is expected to contest the results by arguing that rectifying the Qaaqour mistake ­ the votes were counted twice ­ did not fall under the prerogatives of the Interior Ministry.
Elias Murr has not yet declared Gabriel Murr’s victory, but has said that rectifying the Qaaqour mistake would be to his uncle’s advantage ­ a move that leaves the results open to a possible challenge.
These points were supposed to be raised by Michel Murr during a Thursday news conference, which was postponed ­ presumably after a Syrian effort to calm tensions.
In addition to disagreements within the Murr family, the already existing gap between Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri widened as a result of the by-election. Rumors have spread that Hariri sided with Gabriel Murr against Myrna Murr.
Gabriel Murr obtained around 2,000 out of an estimated 7,000 votes from the Armenian community, which was expected to throw its full support behind Myrna Murr after more than 40 years of supporting her father. Taking into account Hariri’s influence in this community, this break in the Armenian ranks has been interpreted as the premier’s direct involvement in the electoral process in favor of the opposition camp.
Media reports on Thursday of Elias Murr accusing Hariri of interfering in the electoral process have reportedly upset the premier. Parliamentary sources said that Hariri expressed his unwillingness to tolerate politically motivated media campaigns against him. This friction has reopened the possibility of a  Cabinet shuffle, but political observers believe that such a move remains idle speculation amid a difficult regional climate.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Murr continued to receive congratulations for his victory. He visited the Starco headquarters of Nassib Lahoud’s Democratic Renewal Movement to express his gratitude for the group’s support.
Nassib Lahoud was among the first to throw his support behind Gabriel Murr.
The head of the Democratic Forum, former MP Habib Sadeq, also visited Lahoud to offer his support and congratulate him on the opposition’s victory. Sadeq said the Metn election was a victory for the opposition and democracy and a lesson to all political movements.
“If popular forces are united, then they are capable of securing victory,” he said.
For his part, Nassib Lahoud dismissed rumors of divisions in the Qornet Shehwan Gathering.  With a likely eye on the 2005 elections, he also said that the Metn electoral battle was a political one, not a family struggle.
l A late-night blast at the residence of Metn MP Ghassan Ash-
qar was roundly condemned on Thursday as an attempt to foment violent reactions to the Metn by-election results.
The acting government commissioner at the Military Tribunal, Maroun Zakhour, was entrusted on Thursday with investigating the incident at 10pm on Wednesday at the MP’s home in Dik al-Mehdi, Metn.
Well-informed sources indicated that the device thrown at the MP’s house was probably a stun grenade, adding that the act aimed to create chaos and aggravate tensions over the poll.
Former President Amin Gemayel condemned the incident, saying that attempts to sow “dissent” had no place in Metn, despite the political differences among various sides.
Gemayel backed Gabriel Murr in the tense weekend by-election, while Ashqar’s Syrian Social Nationalist Party supported Myrna Murr.
Metn MP Emile Lahoud Jr. also denounced the explosion.  In a statement, he blamed the incident on the by-election, saying that tension began with the threats of Metn mayors who are supportive of Myrna Murr.
Lahoud Jr. castigated the assailants, saying that Metn was not “the monopoly of a definite party, but the property of all.”
Ashqar called for the adoption of measures necessary to halt such incidents and demanded that the government supervise the media to prevent it inciting sectarianism, particularly among young people.
The SSNP blamed the incident on “the leaders of sectarian instigation.”

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