Security fears hang over house vote, Gemayel says

Beirut: Security fears are obstructing campaigning by Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition for a parliamentary election that could easily be derailed by instability, former president Ameen Gemayel has said.

Gemayel, one of the main Christian leaders in the "March 14" alliance, said he feared a fragile security situation could be exploited to sabotage the June 7 vote.

The election is expected to be a tight race between Gemayel's anti-Syrian majority bloc and a pro-Damascus alliance led by the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"The country is in a very precarious situation and therefore it is possible for a player that is set on torpedoing the elections to succeed in that, even if by spilling the blood of innocents," Gemayel said in a recent interview.

The outcome of this year's election for the 128-seat parliament is expected to be determined by just a handful of seats.

Parliament is divided according to a sectarian power-sharing system and competition is most heated in the deeply divided Christian community.

"The Christian areas will determine the result of the elections," said Gemayel, whose Phalange Party is looking to win seats from Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement in Christian areas including the Metn district, north of Beirut.

Aoun, head of the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, struck an alliance with Hezbollah in 2006 that underlined divisions among Lebanon's once dominant Christians.

Underlining tensions in Christian areas, two explosive devices were found recently outside Phalange offices.

"It is clear that pressures have been applied on a certain group of Lebanese since 2005. Nothing changed," said Gemayel, whose son was a victim of an assassination campaign targeting anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians.Pierre Gemayel was a government minister when he was shot dead in November 2006. Sami Gemayel, Ameen's remaining son, and Nadim Gemayel, his nephew, aim to continue the family's political dynasty by running in the June vote.

Gemayel said security concerns were handicapping campaigning.

"We are continuously receiving signals indicating that there are direct threats against some candidates," he said.

"Of course this affects the electoral campaign," he said, adding that the Phalange still expected to win the seats it was contesting.

The party's electoral strength has been boosted by an alliance with Christian heavyweight Michel Al Murr. Victory for the Hezbollah-led alliance in the election would mean even closer ties to Iran and its Islamist government, Gemayel said. "It is regrettable that some Lebanese, such as General Aoun and others, have not understood this," he said. Hezbollah's powerful arsenal is one of the issues at the heart of political divisions in Lebanon. Describing Hezbollah as the "maestro" of the minority alliance, Gemayel said: "There is no opposition. There is only Hezbollah."

Were Hezbollah and its allies to clinch a majority in parliament, Gemayel said he feared he and his allies would be mere spectators in a national unity government proposed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The rival alliances currently share seats in a national unity cabinet, which Gemayel described as a "bitter experience".

"If this matter is proposed to us, we must be convinced of its benefit. Until now, I am not convinced," Gemayel said.