BEIRUT Saad Hariri, the son and anointed heir of assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, was once more at ease in the world of business than the rough-and-tumble of politics. But his fathers killing in a 2005 bomb blast propelled the 39-year-old tycoon to centre stage in the anti-Syrian opposition and he now has two election victories under his belt.

The Saudi-born Saad initially attributed his political success to the sympathy vote for his popular billionaire father, who founded the moderate non-sectarian Future movement that his son now leads. 'I think I am merely a symbol for now. I need to work hard the coming four years to... fill a little bit my fathers shoes,' he said after his initial election win in 2005. On Sunday, his Western-backed coalition known as March 14 — after the date of a mass rally staged to call for Syrias withdrawal from Lebanon in the public outcry that followed Hariris murder — claimed victory again.

'This is a big day in the history of democratic Lebanon,' Hariri proclaimed. Hariris Western-backed coalition — which held the majority in the outgoing parliament — is expected to win 70 seats in the new 128-seat assembly against 58 for the Hezbollah-led alliance, according to his Future television station.

Already a success of his own in the business world, Saad was chosen to continue the 'national and political mission' of his billionaire father, who was credited with rebuilding Lebanon after the devastating 1975-1990 civil war. Forbes magazine put Saad Hariris net worth at 1.4 billion dollars in its 2009 list of the worlds billionaires, down from 3.3 billion last year.

Sources close to the Hariri family say they tapped Saad for a political role because he has more charisma and is better at interacting with people than his eldest brother, Bahaa. Once asked if he was ready to become premier, he told Newsweek, 'I think with the [right] environment [and] the right alliances, I can try to be a prime minister, but we still have some symbols of the past who brought the country so much harm.'

Saad is a business graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, and heads his fathers Saudi-based construction firm, Saudi Oger, one of the largest companies in the Middle East and which has a turnover of over two billion dollars and employs around 35,000 people. The Hariri empire, which has been managed by Saad since 1996, also spans banking, real estate and media through companies such as Saudi Investment Bank, Saudi Research and Marketing Group and Future Television. He also has his own real estate firm worth an estimated 145 million dollars. Saad was born in April 1970, Rafiq Hariris second son by his first Iraqi wife. He is now himself married with two children. His wife, Lara Bashir Al-Adem, hails from a prestigious Syrian family.

Lebanons Daily Star once labelled him an 'unlikely' candidate whose 'inexperience in walking the crooked paths of the Lebanese political environment is not a detriment but rather an asset...Because of his lack of exposure to the corrupt reality of the Lebanese state, he has the means to resist negative aspects of governance that are so prevalent here,' the newspaper said. — AFP