This is a guest post by DaveM
Watching Al Arabiya’s coverage of the Lebanese elections last night I couldn’t believe my eyes.
However – for once – it was in a good way, as contrary to all the pre-election forecasts which pointed to a victory for the 8th March bloc led by the Iranian proxy Hezbollah, the 14th March coalition actually won these elections.
They took 71 seats to the 8th March’s 57.
This is great news. The 14th March coalition represents Lebanon’s independence movement and their campaign for a sovereign, independent country free from Syrian and Iranian interference.
Interference, of course, is a euphemism for the campaign of murder and attempted murder of political opponents, journalists and critics of the Ba’ath regime, Islamic Republic and their proxies in Lebanon.
[note: In Arabic. Mirwan Hamedeh, mentioned at the bottom of the page survived an assassination attempt. All the others were murdered]
Here is a very good analysis on the situation and the implications of the results.
Despite this unexpected victory for a progressive, sovereign, independent and open Lebanon it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that Hezbollah (just like the BNP here) are not a democratic party. Democracy for them is just a means to an end. One of many means at their disposal.
If Hezbollah cannot achieve what they want via consent then they will not hesitate to resort to using their militias and thugs as they did on the 7th May 2008.
That choice is always open to them.
It’s quite remarkable really that while some of our MPs are happy to invite Hezbollah to Parliament, appear on their TV station and publicly “glorify” the “resistance” and their leader Hassan Nasrallah the majority of the Lebanese electorate have in fact totally rejected this party.
Maybe someone should pass this message on to Galloway, Short and Benn so that they can, at the very least, keep up with events.
Finally, this may sound a bit petty but I feel it’s worth saying.
Unlike the unsubstantiated claims of some people who write comment pieces in national newspapers about the reaction of ordinary people in the Middle East this, and not the death of some Al Qaeda suspect, is what elicits “hundreds of comments” on “leading Arabic news sites”.
Go on, count them.
Congratulations Lebanon!
I’ve been smiling all day.
