Despite Assassination, Lebanon Will Hold Elections

Defiant government says it won't retreat
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2007 5:28 PM CDT
Despite Assassination, Lebanon Will Hold Elections
Lebanese army investigators, inspect the scene,Thursday Sept. 20, 2007, where on Wednesday a powerful bomb killed a pro-government Parliament member in a Christian suburb east of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese leaders pledged Thursday to press ahead with a divisive election for president, to be held in Parliament...   (Associated Press)

As the country mourns yesterday's death of anti-Syrian politician Antoine Ghanem, Lebanon's government is determined to hold presidential elections as scheduled next week, the BBC reports. "The hand of terror will not win," Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said today. "The Lebanese will … have a new president elected by lawmakers." Syria denied accusations it was behind the assassination.

Siniora called for a UN investigation of what he considers a "conspiracy." Torn between pro- and anti-Syrian successors to current pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese public will have Friday off for Ghanem's funeral. Ghanem is the seventh prominent anti-Syrian lawmaker to be assassinated since ex-PM Rafik Hariri was killed by a bomb in 2005. (More Lebanon stories.)

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