LEBANON: Lebanon's new government has won a confidence vote in parliament and has immediately called elections, the first without a Syrian military presence for 33 years, to start on May 29th.
The announcement, a day after Syria pulled its last soldiers and spies out of Lebanon after 29 years, means parliamentary polls will be held on time as demanded by the international community and Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition.
The new cabinet, led by wealthy businessman Najib Mikati, won a ringing 109-1 endorsement from MPs in the 128-member chamber, with three abstentions.
Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa then signed a decree for elections. Parliament also extended by three weeks its own term, which expires on May 31st.
Some sources said there would be three rounds of voting - on May 29th, June 5th and June 12th. Others said there would be a fourth on June 19th. Lebanon usually holds parliamentary polls staggered over several weekends as regions vote in turn.
"I can confirm to the Lebanese that the elections will happen beginning on May 29th," parliament speaker Nabih Berri said before the vote of confidence.
Political sources said Mr Berri had reached agreement on the election late on Tuesday with the Shia Muslim Hizbullah group, Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt and the parliamentary bloc loyal to assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, a Sunni Muslim.
The four political forces, which together dominate the chamber, agreed on the timing and on the law organising the poll. The sources said the election would follow the same rules as the last one in 2000, because there was no time to draft a new electoral law in the current parliament session.
The elections had been threatened with delay by the killing of Hariri in February, which threw Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war and galvanised local and international opposition to Syria's 29-year military presence.
The Lebanese opposition had accused Syrian-backed officials of trying to delay the polls, which they expect to give them a majority in the house now dominated by Damascus's allies.
Syrian forces entered Lebanon in 1976 and the last Syrian soldier left the country on Tuesday. The last Lebanese election held without Syrian forces in the country was in 1972.
Syria dominated Lebanon after the civil war, incurring little serious international opposition until a UN Security Council resolution in September demanded it withdraw.
The outcry over Hariri's assassination prompted Syria to announce plans to withdraw its remaining 14,000 troops in Lebanon. The pull-out took about seven weeks to complete.
Diplomats in New York said on Tuesday the United Nations was still looking for someone to lead an international investigation into Hariri's killing, blamed by many Lebanese on Damascus.
The UN Security Council on April 7th ordered an outside inquiry after a UN fact-finding mission concluded that Lebanon's own inquiry was seriously flawed. About 50 people, including administrative and security staff, are expected to participate in the international investigation.
A small UN team was expected in Beirut to work with Lebanese authorities in preparing the larger mission.