This past weekend's parliamentary election in Lebanon was an attempt to restore some semblance of democracy and order to a country torn by nearly two decades of civil war and still under the thumb of Syrian troops. But the balloting may have only made things worse.
Early returns show the government with even less control, and there are widespread suspicions of extensive voter fraud.It was the first phase of a three-stage operation called by pro-Syrian President Elias Hrawi's government to elect a 128-seat one-chamber house. Elections in Beirut and the central mountains are scheduled for Aug. 30 and in South Lebanon Sept. 6.
For many observers, it seemed a natural attempt to salvage democracy from the remnants of a bloody 16-year civil war that ended in 1990. But the outcome promises more conflict and uncertainty, not less.
In this, Lebanon's first general election in 20 years, voters who were apparently fed up with the intrusion of Syrian power-brokers - and an economic crisis that is the worst in 40 years - handed a crushing defeat to pro-government candidates.
Among the victors was the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Shiite Muslim party that appeared headed to win all six seats it contested in its national political debut.
A total of 281 candidates competed for 51 seats, with the results still unclear. What is clear is a mounting suspicion of massive fraud, which, according to Parliament speaker Hussein Husseini, a Shiite, who resigned in protest, was so extensive that it continued even during the vote-counting.
Much of the fraud was thought to be centered in the Syrian-policed Bekaa valley, known as a sanctuary for Hezbollah members who took dozens of Westerners hostage in the 1980s.
The results are further clouded by a boycott of the polls by many Lebanese Christians, who labeled the elections "a struggle in a jungle of weapons, chaos and maladministration." They expected the election to be heavily influenced by Syria, which still has 40,000 troops in Lebanon.
According to the interior minister, the voter turnout was only about 15 percent in Christian areas and as high as 75 percent in Moslem areas. The claims that many voters carried forged identity cards make it even more difficult to draw meaning from the results.
The election has touched off the worst Christian-Moslem rift since the civil war. At least one Lebanese army soldier and a civilian gunman have been killed.
It is an unfortunate conclusion to what was supposed to be an opportunity for the people to speak. Instead, it has been called a "systematic slaughtering of democracy."
The future for long-and-deeply-troubled Lebanon remains as murky and doubtful as ever.