The Lebanese government on Thursday said lawmaker Antoine Ghanem's death would not prevent the upcoming presidential election, local Naharnet news website reported.

 

"It cannot be separated from the presidential election ... or from attempts to plunge the country into chaos," Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a cabinet meeting presided over by prime minister Fouad Seniora.

 

"But we are determined to hold the election on time," he said. Earlier, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri had said September 25 will still witness a parliamentary session to choose a successor to current President Emile Lahoud.

 

"This is a terrorist act similar to the terrorist acts against the lives of members of the majority" over the past three years, Aridi said.

 

"We do not fear terrorism and this will not break our will. It will only reinforce our determination to prevent the terrorists from succeeding," he added.

 

Ghanem, a member of the Phalange Party, was killed along with four others in a car bombing on Wednesday in a Beirut suburb. He was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005.

 

Lebanon has been in political impasse since six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet last November as a result of power struggle between parliament majority and the opposition bloc.

 

The forecast presidential event has caused widespread concerns among the Lebanese, fearing further disarrays and possible eruption of violence.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2007)