LEBANON - Beirut Car Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian Lawmaker.

A car bomb kills an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker and at least six other people in Beirut, just six days before parliament was due to elect a new president. Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party was the second government MP killed in a bomb attack in the capital this year. Sept 19 political assassination reawakened fears over the stability of the country that has been wracked by violence since the withdrawal of Syrian troops in 2005. Anti-Syrian politicians accuse Damascus of being behind the violence in an effort to regain influence but Syria denies all involvement. The blast set cars on fire and rained glass and debris on bystanders. In June, a powerful car bomb killed Sunni lawmaker Walid Eido in the centre of the capital city. Last year, minister of Industry and Phalange MP Pierre Gemayel was gunned down. The killing of yet another government MP comes less than a week before parliament is set to kick off the months-long process of choosing a successor for the incumbent pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud. The western-backed government of PM Fouad Siniora and the opposition, led by the pro-Syrian, the Shi'ite Hizbullah movement, sharply disagree on the procedure for the vote to choose a president. They are opposed to the anti-Syrian coalition electing a president by simple majority and argue that the problems of the country can only be addressed by finding a consensus candidate. Hizbullah and its allies, including the Christian leader Michel Aoun, have been campaigning since last November for more influence in running the country. Government lawmakers point out the killing of MPs is whittling away at their narrow majority in parliament. Lahoud's term expires at the end of November. He has threatened to appoint a rival government in case no successor has been elected, leaving the country with two governments, one pro- and one anti-Syrian. The US on Sept 19 said it strongly condemned the killing, saying it seemed to fit a pattern of other such attacks.