The New York Times reports that results from the fourth and final area of Lebanon to hold parliamentary elections over the past month displayed a stunning majority victory for the anti-Syrian alliance. The alliance is led by Saad Hariri, the 35-year old son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was assassinated four months ago. They won at least 21 of 28 contested seats in northern Lebanon. This victory gave the alliance a majority in next year’s 128-seat Parliament. These elections were the first to be held in almost 30 years without the presence of Syrian troops.

Mr. Hariri’s alliance attempted to bridge religious lines between its Sunni Muslim base and the Maronite Christians and Druze. Former cabinet minister and Syrian ally Suleiman Franjieh reflected Christian worries over increased Muslim political strength during a television interview where he stated that “What we feared is happening.”

However, despite the victory of Hariri’s alliance and their new majority in the Parliament, their level of support is not strong enough to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to amend the Constitution to unseat Lebanon’s president Emile Lahoud. As Lebanese society attempts to move forward with its fragile democracy absent of Syrian intervention, Strida Geagea sees challenging times ahead as she predicted that “The next phase is going to be a very delicate phase…This is what happens when a country that has been controlled passes into democracy.”