Polls open in tense Lebanon election By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer

Polls open in tense Lebanon election By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago



BIKFAYA, Lebanon - Army and police patrols stood guard Sunday as thousands of Lebanese went to polling stations to vote in a key election to replace two assassinated lawmakers in this politically torn country.

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The tense vote is taking place in two electoral districts, one in Beirut and the other in Lebanon's Metn region, a Christian stronghold where the community is deeply divided.

Voters will pick candidates to replace legislator and cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, a Christian who was shot dead in November, and lawmaker Walid Eido, a Sunni Muslim who was killed in a Beirut car bomb in June. Both were allies of the U.S.-backed Lebanese government and vocal opponents of neighboring Syria, which controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out in 2005.

The elections could escalate the country's deepening political crisis because Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's Western-backed government called them without the required approval of President Emile Lahoud, who has blocked attempts to replace the lawmakers.

Lahoud is allied with the Hezbollah-led, pro-Syrian opposition, as is Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has said he will not recognize the results of the contests.

Mohammed al-Amin Itani, a candidate of parliament for majority leader Saad Hariri's Future Movement, is expected to easily win the contest for Eido's seat, because the Hezbollah-led opposition did not officially sponsor a candidate.

But in Metn, the vote for Gemayel's seat is a bitter contest between two candidates, one of whom is the assassinated politician's father.

Amin Gemayel, who was president of Lebanon for much of the 1980s, decided to compete for his son's seat on behalf of the ruling coalition. He faces off against Kamil Khoury, who is supported by Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a former army commander and prime minister allied with the opposition. Aoun's party dominated the district in the 2005 legislative elections.

Aoun, who was one of Syria strongest opponents during its nearly 30-year military presence in Lebanon, said Gemayel did not do much to oust the Syrians, who left in April 2005.

"Now that the Syrians are out, they blame me of being with them," Aoun said referring to accusations that he is trying to bring back Syrian dominance in Lebanon.

At many polling stations in Metn, Gemayel's supporters distributed white roses in memory of the late minister to voters before they cast their ballots.

Hours after the polling stations opened at 7 a.m., no trouble was reported. Tension has been high in Metn, and several clashes were reported between Aoun and Gemayel's supporters during the past week.

Gemayel and his government allies have accused Damascus of being behind the assassination of his son and a number of other anti-Syrian politicians and public figures during the last two years, part of what they deem Syria's plan to end the majority's rule through attrition. With Eido's death, Saniora's margin in parliament was whittled down to only four seats. Syria has denied the allegations.

The vote is the latest episode in Lebanon's worst political crisis since the country's 1975-1990 civil war. The standoff between Saniora and the opposition threatens to tear the country apart and could lead to the formation of rival governments if parliament fails to elect a new president before the Nov. 23 deadline for Lahoud to step down.

Aoun has already announced his candidacy for the presidency.