Triumphant alliance pledges new era for Lebanon

A Lebanese anti-Syrian alliance pledged sweeping change on Monday after winning control of parliament in the first elections in three decades without Syrian troops in Lebanon. Unofficial final results for Sunday's final phase of elections in north Lebanon showed an alliance led by Saad al-Hariri - the son of slain ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri - comfortably sweeping all remaining 28 seats, taking its overall total to 72 in the 128-member assembly.
The victory means parliament has a majority of lawmakers opposed to Syria's influence in Lebanon for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war. European Union monitors gave the May 29-June 19 elections a clean bill of health but urged an overhaul of the controversial rules organising polls.
"The elections were well-managed and took place in a generally peaceful manner within the framework for elections," the EU election observation mission to Lebanon said.
"However, there is an urgent need for complete reform of the election framework," it said, singling out lax campaign financing rules for setting an uneven playing field.
Official results were expected later on Monday.
"Final results show that we are ahead and show that the people have voted for change," Hariri said. "It was not possible that after the martyrdom of Rafik al-Hariri, the withdrawal of Syria, that nothing would change."
Beirut newspapers, pointing to a new era after the elections, warned of a sharp rise in sectarianism.
"Voting along sectarian lines opens the door for a delicate period in which no one knows how to overcome the sectarian tension that characterised the elections," as-Safir daily said.
The anti-Syrian list squared off against an unlikely alliance of pro-Syrians and Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and long time critic of Damascus.
Aoun's victory in the Christian heartland of Mount Lebanon in last week's round stunned the movement whose street protests following Hariri's assassination on February 14 forced Syria to bow to global pressure and pull out of Lebanon.
Aoun accused Hariri of buying votes and playing on sectarian differences to secure victory in northern Lebanon, ruling out any chance of teaming up with him in parliament.
"We will be in the opposition. We can't be with a majority that reached (parliament) through corruption," he said.
Hariri's bloc has now won 72 seats, an absolute majority, but short of the two-thirds the anti-Syrian front had predicted.
Aoun and allies have 21 seats while a pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim alliance between Hizbollah and Amal have 35 seats.
The vote in northern Lebanon was marred by allegations of vote-buying, intimidation and other irregularities. The EU said there had been a number of such allegations.