Lebanese heading to polls to decide future

Agence France-Presse

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The vote is being fought out between a U.S.-backed coalition and an alliance headed by pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah in a multi-confessional country scarred throughout its modern history by war and political instability. Lebanon's political parties wrapped up their campaigns on Friday with a series of rallies in towns around the country ahead of the midnight deadline to stop campaigning, with both sides warning their supporters that their ballots on Sunday will determine the future course of the country.Analysts expect a tight race, with some opinion polls suggesting a narrow lead for the alliance headed by Hezbollah, the "Party of God" that fought a devastating war in 2006 with Israel and is branded a terror group by washington."The political stagnation will continue after the election because the situation in Lebanon is linked to the situation in the region," said Hilal Khachan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. "All of Lebanon's problems are on hold pending a breakthrough as far as the dialogue between washington and ıran." The battle will be particularly fierce in a handful of districts where Lebanon's powerful minority Christian community, divided between the two rival camps, represents the swing vote. And security will be tight, with 50,000 soldiers and police out in force to guard against civil unrest and any repeat of the politically motivated attacks that have rocked Lebanon over the past few years.Whatever the outcome, analysts expect few radical changes as Lebanon's complex power-sharing system ensures representation for 16 recognized religious sects in parliament. Under an accord that ended the 1975-1990 civil war, the assembly's 128 seats are divided equally between Christians and Muslims and the post of prime minister is reserved for a Sunni Muslim. Sunday's vote has prompted ominous warnings by the majority in parliament, headed by Hariri's son billionaire Saad Hariri, that a Hezbollah victory would transform Lebanon into a proxy of ıran.washington, which dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to Beirut last month, has also stressed that future aid to Lebanon hinges on the outcome of the vote in a country often used as a pawn by regional powerbrokers.But Hezbollah has downplayed fears that its ultimate ambition is to install an Islamist regime and has repeatedly stressed that it would seek to govern in an alliance with the current Western-backed majority. The party has also said it has received assurances from the International Monetary Fund and the EU that they will recognise the result of the election whoever wins. Analysts warn however that the paralysis that has plagued the current 30-member cabinet in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power may well continue into the next government given the seemingly irreconcilable divide between the two political camps.