Muslim Fundamentalists Post Gains in Lebanon Legislature Vote

Official parliamentary election returns released Thursday gave victories to pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim fundamentalists in the Bekaa Valley in a setback for Lebanon’s Syrian-backed government.

Shiite militants fired guns in the air when the results of the first stage of the vote were announced.

Hezbollah’s gains are likely to be modest once the three-stage election is completed. But Thursday’s results were a jolt to President Elias Hrawi’s government and the Arab League-brokered peace plan that ended Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Four members of Hezbollah, the umbrella group for Shiite extremists who seized Western hostages in Lebanon, were elected to Parliament from the Baalbek-Hermel area in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Four other political allies also won seats in Sunday’s voting.

The three-stage election process began last Sunday with voting in the Bekaa Valley and in northern Lebanon. Voting will take place Sunday in Beirut, in the Christian heartland to the northeast of Beirut and in the Druze regions to the southeast. South Lebanon will vote Sept. 6.

Parliamentary elections to end the traditional Christian domination of Lebanon’s government were not held during the 15-year civil war. The vote for a new 128-seat legislature has been characterized so far by the same sectarian strife that caused the war and by charges of fraud.

Although Hezbollah is expected to make further gains in Beirut and the south, it is not likely to win more than 15 seats, including those won by its political allies.

But the fundamentalist victories are expected to harden the stance of right-wing Maronite Catholics, the largest Christian sect, and sharpen sectarian divisions.

A resumption of all-out Christian-Muslim fighting is not considered likely. Officials on both sides have stressed that the civil war proved that no side could win.

Right-wing Christians are boycotting the elections, saying that holding the vote before the withdrawal of Syria’s 40,000 troops from Lebanon will lead to a Parliament favorable to Syrian President Hafez Assad’s government.