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BEIRUT - Lebanon's Christian opposition leader said his candidate had won a crucial by-election to parliament but his opponent indicated he had taken the seat and urged supporters to wait for the final result.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese voted to choose successors to two assassinated anti-Syrian politicians in the latest showdown between the Western-backed government and its opponents, locked in a bitter 9-month-old power struggle.
Maronite Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said his candidate had closely beaten Amin Gemayel, a former president and a key member of the ruling coalition, in the by-election in the Metn district northeast of Beirut.
But later, Gemayel appeared to claim victory and urged supporters to wait for the final official result. The Interior Ministry said it would announce the outcome once electoral authorities finish the counting.
"He who has declared victory ... must wait (for the official result) because in the end we have won," Gemayel told supporters at his home town in Bikfaya. He then indicated he would resort to the courts if he was declared the loser.
Lebanese troops intervened to break up several clashes with fists and sticks between supporters of both camps north of Beirut after the rival claims. Two people suffered gunshot wounds.
The political struggle has caused the worst civil strife since the 1975-1990 war, and some feared a new outbreak of violence during voting.
The race to win the Maronite seat left empty after Gemayel's son Pierre, a cabinet minister and an MP, was killed in November had shaped up as a test of strength between both camps weeks before parliament was due to elect a Maronite as president.
Opposition sources said Camille Khoury had won by a margin of few hundred votes from around 80,000 cast, a healthy turnout of around 48 per cent. Gemayel disputed that, saying a recount was underway after alleged cases of fraud.
- REUTERS
