TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Anti-Syria politicians appeared to have won control of Lebanon's parliament Sunday as the nation's first elections since the end of Syrian domination wound to a stormy and religiously divisive finish.
A loose coalition of Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze headed by Saad Hariri, a 35-year-old billionaire and political novice, pulled off a victory in the bitterly divided northern regions of Lebanon, sources in his camp said. Allies of Hariri, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, needed to win 21 of 28 northern seats in the final round of voting to secure a majority.
The election was the first since Syria withdrew its soldiers from Lebanon this year, heralding the end of nearly three decades of de facto Syrian control over this small Mediterranean nation. The balloting has been lauded by Washington as a triumph for democracy in the Middle East.
The diverse anti-Syria movement had initially kindled hopes for a new era of cooperation among Lebanon's often-hostile religious groups. But as the voting was held region by region in four rounds over the course of three weeks, the election appeared to revive the nation's sectarian and clan divisions, with Christians and Muslims battling for power.
Talk of national unity began to ring hollow as militia banners from the nation's 1975-1990 civil war replaced the Lebanese flag in the streets; clerics gave their flocks explicit voting instructions; and bands of students too young to remember the massacres of past decades swarmed behind sectarian figureheads.
By last week, the election had degenerated into a bilious, religiously charged contest between blocs led by Gen. Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, and Hariri, a Sunni Muslim. Tensions were deepened by allegations of vote-buying, Syrian meddling and voter intimidation.
Official results won't be announced until today. But by midnight, Aoun had acknowledged that his bloc would be the opposition in the new parliament. Soon after that, a key member of his alliance gave an embittered interview conceding defeat.
"What we were afraid of has happened," said Suleiman Franjieh, 40, former interior minister and a lifelong stalwart for Syria, told the satellite channel LBC. "The north has split along sectarian lines."
It wasn't long before Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, an ally of Hariri, was on the same channel, chastising Franjieh for risking a civil war. "This child shouldn't speak like this," Jumblatt said.
