BEIRUT, May 25: Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Michel Suleiman as head of state on Sunday. Celebratory gunfire erupted in Beirut after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri declared that Suleiman, the sole candidate, had won by securing 118 votes in the 128-member assembly.

The election was part of an agreement brokered by Qatar last week to defuse a crisis that had pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war, with Hezbollah briefly seizing parts of Beirut and routing government partisans. At least 81 people were killed.

The Doha deal was widely seen as a setback for Washington and its allies, which had pressed for Hezbollah to be disarmed.

However, US President George W. Bush, congratulating Suleiman on his election, said in a statement: “I am hopeful that the Doha Agreement ... will usher in an era of political reconciliation to the benefit of all Lebanese.”

Bush said he was confident that Lebanon had chosen a leader who would uphold the country’s international obligations under UN resolutions that call for Hezbollah to be disarmed.

After the vote, Suleiman, 59, took his oath of office in the chamber before making a speech designed to set the tone for his six-year term. Lebanon has had no president since November.

Hezbollah’s arms

Suleiman urged a “calm dialogue” on a national defence strategy that would draw on the “capacities of the resistance” – apparently suggesting the eventual integration of Hezbollah’s guerillas into Lebanese security forces.

Hezbollah has rejected any move to force it to lay down its weapons, which it says are needed to deter Israeli attack. But its Lebanese opponents revived calls for the shia group to disarm after its military offensive in Beirut this month.

Tackling another of the challenges his presidency will face, Suleiman called for formal diplomatic links with Damascus.

Syria, Lebanon’s main powerbroker for 29 years until 2005, has never agreed to exchange embassies with Beirut.—Reuters