PARIS (AFP) — France will send observers to monitor crucial Lebanese parliamentary elections in June, the majority leader of the Lebanese parliament said Monday after talks with French leaders in Paris.
"I asked for observers at the coming elections, and I received a positive answer, from the prime minister and the president," Saad Hariri said, following lunch with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
"When Lebanon asks for French or European observers, France will be first in line to send these observers," said Hariri, who heads the biggest bloc in Lebanon's ruling anti-Syrian coalition.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is due Tuesday in Lebanon as part of a Middle East tour to try to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, called in an interview on Monday for a "transparent and democratic" vote in the country.
Sarkozy said Paris was prepared to "help ensure the good conduct of the election," alongside its international and European Union partners.
Lebanon's interior ministry announced on Monday that parliamentary elections had been set for June 7.
The vote is considered important as it could well see the Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies win a majority of seats in parliament.
Such an outcome would deal a major blow to the Western-backed parties that won a majority in the last elections in 2005 on a wave of anti-Syrian sentiment following the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has veto power over major decisions in the current national unity government formed in July following a political crisis that brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war.
The crisis was defused following a Qatari-brokered deal in May that led to the election of army commander Michel Sleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government and a new electoral law being drawn up.
In Lebanon, Sarkozy will visit French troops serving in a UN force in south Lebanon and hold talks with President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
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