Lebanonwire.com | Lebanon's first post-Syrian parliament re-elects pro-Damascus speaker

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June 28, 2005

Lebanon's first post-Syrian parliament re-elects pro-Damascus speaker
by Nagib Khazzaka

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese MPs re-elected a prominent pro-Syrian Shiite as speaker Tuesday at the inaugural session of the first parliament since the 1975-90 civil war not controlled by pro-Damascus factions.

Nabih Berri, who had held the post for the past 13 years under pro-Syrian regimes, was re-elected by 90 votes to one in the 128-member legislature.

The other 37 ballots were spoiled marking the disapproval of Christian and leftist lawmakers over the pro-Damascus MP's retention for a fourth term.

The candidate of the Future Movement of Sunni leader Saad Hariri -- Bassem Sabeh -- received just a single vote.

His party and its allies in the main opposition bloc had given their support to Berri on condition he not obstruct certain key reforms.

Faced with the unlikely prospect of beating Berri, another rival candidate, former speaker Hussein Husseini, had taken himself out of the running.

Druze leader and opposition MP Walid Jumblatt said the alliance had backed Berri as the Shiites were a community "that cannot be marginalised because of its political and demographic weight."

Under Lebanon's sectarian system, the speakership is reserved for the Shiite community -- the country's largest and poorest.

One person was wounded by celebratory gunfire in Beirut which erupted staight after Berri's re-election, medics said.

Berri opposes the disarmament of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist organisation.

The disarming of Hezbollah, a key UN demand, is likely to be one of the thorniest issues facing the new Lebanese government that has yet to be formed following parliamentary elections that wrapped up more than a week ago -- the first in three decades free of Syrian troops.

In an opening address, the dean of the legislature, Edmond Naim, 82, appealed to MPs to adopt two urgent reforms championed by the main opposition alliance which won an eight-seat majority in the elections.

Naim, who presided over the first part of the session before Berri's election, urged MPs to support an amnesty for Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces, the only civil war militia leader ever jailed here.

The octogenerian parliamentarian is himself a member of the LF, which joined forces with Hariri and and wartime foe Jumblatt in the victorious opposition alliance.

Naim also called on MPs to prepare an urgent reform of the electoral system, which was strongly criticised by European Union poll observers as well as members of the opposition.

As well as Syria, Berri maintains strong relations with its key regional ally Iran, which he visited after he was elected an MP for southern Lebanon earlier this month.

The two countries are the key foreign backers of Hezbollah, although the movement denies receiving arms from either government.

Berri's Amal movement formed an electoral alliance with Hezbollah under the slogan "No to disarming the anti-Israeli resistance," and the two parties won all the available seats in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

The party leaders viewed the vote as a plebiscite for Shiite groups that fought the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon from 1978 to 2000, and a slap in the face to international pressure for Hezbollah to disarm in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.

Sponsored by the United States and France, the resolution calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and the disarmament of Lebanese militias.

International pressure forced Syria to comply with the resolution after the February assassination of Hariri's father Rafiq, a five-time prime minister, and all Syrian troops left the country in April.

Hezbollah is the only Lebanese militia that has not disarmed since the civil war ended in 1990.