Big victories for all three unseated mps

Three unseated MPs were returned to parliament on June 29 in the first ever parliament elections prompted by the Constitutional Council's decision to overturn last summer's election results.

Interior minister Michel Al-Murr announced the official results for Jbeil's Maronite seat, won by Emile Nawfal, who beat rival Nazem Khoury by 1,687 votes.

In north Lebanon, official results will be announced this afternoon, but Murr disclosed preliminary figures that guaranteed victory to Fawzi Hobeish and Khaled Daher. The two easily won the election as they more than doubled the votes of their nearest competitors.

For the Maronite seat, preliminary results gave Hobeish 82,000 to Mikhail Daher's 42,600.

Khaled Daher's 55,800 outdistanced Kamil Mrad, with 24,040 and Jamal Ismail, with 23,250, to win one of the Qada's three Sunni seats.

In what some called a clear sign of the suitability to the small electoral district, the Qada of Jbeil had a 53 percent rate of participation, compared with the governorate of North Lebanon's 22 percent. In 1996, the two regions had participation rates of 54 and 40 respectively. In contrast to the 1996 parliamentary round, election day was relatively calm, with few reports of electoral violations or other problems.

This was the case despite statements throughout the day by a range of candidates to portray themselves as victims of financial and administrative efforts to defeat them.

According to observers, the smooth elections were mainly due to the Ministry of Interior's introduction of a new voter card and its efforts over the past months to computerize voter lists. Murr estimated that "90 to 95 percent" of voters used the new card, which was originally designed for local elections. There were nevertheless reports of mistakes for candidates delegates in receiving passes, as well as bribes and another forms of pressuring votes. Despite his clear victory, Hobeish accused northern governor Khalil Hindi of flagrant interference in the election, claiming, "He has been against me since the beginning."

Hobeish's allies in Jamaa Islamia accused various parties of "wild amounts" of bribery in certain parts of the north but refused to name any one. Hobeish's rival Mikha Daher made similar accusations of interference, while in Jbeil, Khoury accused the employees of the region's electricity company of actively working for his chief competition, Nawfal. This was despite water and electricity resources minister Elie Hobeika withdrawing his support of Nafwal nine days prior to the election.

While outward signs of campaigning such as posters with candidates pictures were somewhat less in evidence, incidents of fistfights and clashes with sticks between supporters of various candidates did occur.