Hezbollah coalition may win Lebanese vote

A Hezbollah-led coalition may expand its power in Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections, helping the group not to disarm its militia, a media analysis says. The US supports Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his pro-Western coalition.

It also backs United Nations resolutions calling on Hezbollah to disarm its militia, which fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006, the Bloomberg website reported. Significant electoral gains for the Hezbollah bloc would challenge President Barack Obama's efforts to pacify the Middle East and move toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The group mocks pro-U.S.

Arab states such as Egypt for failing to help the Palestinians, and says its private army is essential to defend Lebanon against Israeli attacks, it added. “When the party is in control of the government, it will be harder for Hezbollah's internal and external opponents to call for its disarmament,” said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a professor at the Lebanese American University. "It would mean the end of a pro-Western government."

A poll conducted earlier this year of about 4,000 people showed the Hezbollah coalition, which includes Christian and other Muslim parties, would win a majority of two or three seats in the 128-member parliament if the election were held at that time. Taken between February and April by the Beirut Center for Research and Information, the poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

The Hezbollah-led bloc currently has 58 seats and the Siniora coalition 70 seats. When US Vice-President Joe Biden visited Lebanon in May in a bid to bolster Siniora's coalition, he said aid to Lebanon -- the US has poured USD 1b into the country since 2006 -- would be re-evaluated depending on what type of government was formed after the election. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah accused the U.S. of interfering in Lebanese affairs.

Origin: moqavemat.com