BEIRUT - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Thursday signed a decree to hold legislative elections from this month based on an electoral law tailored by Syria that the opposition says is unfavourable to Christians.
Elections will be held in four rounds starting May 29 based on a 2000 law the opposition claims favours pro-Syrian loyalists because it was passed when Syria dominated Lebanon.
The much-awaited vote follows the pullout of Syrian troops from Lebanon on April 26, ending a 29-year military presence in the country.
The withdrawal was carried out under intense pressure from the international community and the Lebanese opposition, which says it expects to win the May 29-June 19 elections.
Lahoud's decree appeared to crush efforts by the opposition to hold an 11th- hour parliamentary session to adopt a new law that would give the minority Christians greater representation.
But opposition figure told AFP they would continue to push the matter as a meeting got underway between Christian MPs and pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabib Berri.
"We are still exerting efforts in order to revise the 2000 law," an opposition figure told AFP.
The 2000 law which prevailed during Lebanon's last legislative elections carves up Lebanon into 14 electoral constituencies.
The opposition was hoping to reintroduce a law dating from 1960 which divides the country into smaller constituencies, to bolster Christians and other minorities.
Voting in Beirut will be held on May 29, southern Lebanon on June 5, Mount Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley June 12 and northern Lebanon on June 19.
In Brussels, the European Commission announced that a 90-strong observer team would be sent to Lebanon for the elections.
The mission will be led by Spanish conservative Euro MP Ignacio Salafranca Sanchez-Neyra, a member of the foreign affairs commission in the European Parliament, it said.
The commission said it welcomed "the prospect of holding genuinely democratic parliamentary elections, which are a means to reaffirm full sovereignty."
A core team of experts to be based in Beirut will arrive there shortly, it said.
Another 24 observers will be deployed in the provinces to monitor electoral preparations, campaigning, voting and the post-election period, while 50 short-term observers will arrive in the country closer to the first election day to observe polling and vote-tallying.

05/05/2005 13:27 GMT