Christian leader says Hezbollah could torpedo vote

By Nadim Ladki

BEIRUT (Reuters) - An anti-Syrian Christian leader said on Saturday Hezbollah could use armed force to stop the Lebanese parliament from electing a new president in the next few weeks.

Samir Geagea, a prominent member of the ruling coalition, accused pro-Syrian Hezbollah of training Christian and Druze allies to prepare them to sabotage the election by force if it believed it would not be able to get a friendly president.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called lawmakers this week to meet on Sept. 25 to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on Nov. 23. But a deep political crisis means the vote is unlikely to go ahead then.

The constitution says a new president should be elected between Sept. 24 and the end of Lahoud's term.

"Hezbollah is playing a dangerous game," Geagea told Reuters by telephone. "Hezbollah is preparing to sabotage the presidential election session by force, armed force this time."

Geagea said Hezbollah would resort to that option if it thought that it would not be able to bring a president similar to Lahoud -- someone who would "secure its own interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people".

He said the Shi'ite Muslim group was training at its military camps in eastern Lebanon members of a group loyal to Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and others loyal to a Druze opposition politician.

Hezbollah is the only group to keep its military arm after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. It fought a devastating war with Israel last year in which 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis were killed.