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By Agence France Presse
(AFP)
Tuesday, June 21, 2005>
Daily Star>
BEIRUT: Saad Hariri, who claimed victory in
Lebanon's first post-Syrian election, has
earned the right to follow the path which led
his father Rafik five times to the prime
minister's office before his murder in
February this year.
The son, whose political skills became
apparent in Sunday's decisive final round of
the four-stage polls, will ironically inherit
problems left by his father, who had promised
but failed to turn round the country's deeply
troubled economy.
Whether Saad, 35 and father of two, personally
takes the premiership or not, he now faces the
huge responsibility of overseeing a divided
country and an economy burdened with a $35.5
billion national debt.
It is clearly not a role he had sought. Before
the massive February bomb blast on the
Beirut seafront which killed his father, Saad
was expected to spend many more years in the
world of big business with which he is
familiar.
But as his father's chosen heir, even though
he is the second son, Saad took on the mantle
of leadership of the family's Future Movement
and the anti-Syrian opposition alliance around
it.
Cutting off the ponytail he sported during
nine years managing the family's
multi-billion-dollar business interests, he
leapt into the rough-and-tumble of deeply
divided sectarian politics.
Amid the outpouring of anger at his father's
killing, which was widely blamed on Syria and
its local agents, Saad and his allies were
able to bring some one million people to the
streets of the capital for a protest that
prompted the fall of the pro-Damascus
government and the withdrawal of Syrian troops
in April.
The return from exile last month of former
army commander Michel Aoun briefly threatened
to derail his bandwagon as the Free Patriotic
Movement leader rejected a junior role in his
bloc, preferring to stand against him in an
unlikely alliance with longtime friends of
Damascus.
But after the shock rout at Aoun's hands in
the third round just over a week ago, Saad set
up shop in the sole big hotel in Tripoli to
personally oversee the campaign in the last
region to vote.
Detractors charge that he also reached deep
into the family legacy to win over waverers
but allegations of vote-buying are common
currency here.
The political novice has been frank about the
steep learning curve he has faced and
acknowledges his popular support has been more
down to the reputation of his "martyred"
father than his own - giant posters of the two
together dominated the Hariri campaign.
"I think I'm merely a symbol for now," he said
in an interview earlier this month. "I need to
work hard the coming four years to ... fill a
little bit my father's shoes."
A business graduate of
Georgetown University in Washington, he proved
his commercial acumen beyond doubt, taking
over the family's huge empire nine years ago
at the age of 26.
He headed his father's Saudi-based
construction firm, Saudi Oger, one of the
largest companies in the
Middle East, with a turnover of more than $2
billion and a workforce of some 35,000.
He also managed banking, real estate and media
interests through companies such as Saudi
Investment Bank, Saudi Research and Marketing
Group, and Future Television.
The world of high finance secured him access
to powerful people and he brings to politics
personal connections with such international
leaders as French President Jacques Chirac and
United States Vice President Dick Cheney.
He will need all the foreign backing he can
get as he
faces the huge debt built up during post-Civil
War reconstruction and an economy which
threatens to shrink this year with inflation
outstripping growth.
- AFP
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