BEIRUT: Lawyer Nuhad Jabr was elected head of the Beirut Bar Association Sunday, as more than 3,000 lawyers from both sides of the political divide cast their votes.

A split among March 8-affiliated lawyers over who to support for the association’s top post led to the election of Jabr, who won votes from both March 14 and March 8 bar members.

March 8’s list for the group’s top post included both Jabr and Antonio Hashem, a lawyer backed by Hezbollah.

Jabr clinched his victory with 2073 votes, while Hashem received1623.

Although both Jabr and Hashem had initially agreed that the candidate who receives the lower number of votes in the first round of elections, also held Sunday, would withdraw his candidacy, Hashem’s campaign continued into the second round despite Jabr’s initial success.

When lawyer Nabil Toubiya, the candidate supported by March 14 lawyers, failed to come out on top during the first round of elections, March 14 campaigners endorsed Jabr against March 8’s other candidate, Hashem.

Lawyers in the Beirut Bar Association also elected three members in the 12-member council. Hashem was elected as member, while March 14 lawyers, Pierre Hanna, supported by the Lebanese Forces, and George Estefan, backed by the Kataeb Party, also won council seats.

Progressive Socialist Party-backed lawyers also threw their support behind Jabr for the top post.

George Nakhle, an FPM candidate for council member, failed in his bid.

Jabr, who had been under pressure by the March 8 political parties to withdraw his candidacy in favor of Hashem, received less than 50 percent of the votes cast by lawyers affiliated with the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah.

Jabr, who had previously said he was not the candidate of FPM or March 8, attracted a number of votes from March 14 and independents to be elected the 84th head of the Beirut Bar Association.

Hours after the election, Hezbollah congratulated the lawyers who campaigned in support of Jabr for the head post and Hashem as a member of the council. “Hezbollah’s lawyers would like to congratulate and thank all those who put effort in this election,” a statement by Hezbollah’s Public Relations office said Sunday.

Sunday’s election became a tough battle between rival sides when PSP lawyers drummed up their support for Jabr in the first round of the elections, reducing the chance of victory for Toubiya, March 14’s official candidate,

Speaking after the results showed a clear victory for him, Jabr vowed to work with all lawyers at the association without any preference for one side against another. “This association will remain a national one that brings together all Lebanese,” Jabr said.

Lawyer Walid Sfeir, a PSP official, said the votes cast by PSP lawyers had been the deciding factor in the elections. “We voted for Jabr, Hanna, Estefan and Hashem based on our openness to all political parties and our belief in distancing political bickering from the association,” said Sfeir.