Beirut  - Michel Aoun, polyglot former military commander and mainstay of the Lebanese Christian community, is running for reform, with his Free Patriotic Party, in Sunday's parliamentary election.

In an exclusive interview with the German Press Agency dpa at his residence just outside Beirut, Aoun, who served as prime minister from 1988 to 1990, laid out an anti-corruption platform, defended his controversial alliance with the militant Islamist group Hezbollah, and hit out at the ruling coalition with whom he parted company in 2005.

The charges against the ruling coalition, led by Saad Hariri, son of assassinated formed prime minister Rafik Hariri, were clear: corruption, vote-buying and fear-mongering over the prospect of a possible Hezbollah election win.

"Those who have governed Lebanon are a group of people who couldn't even change even themselves. They couldn't change their financial and economic policies, which have led to the deterioration of the country's economy," he said.

They have not been able to "ensure the basic needs of the people, including water, electricity and food," he charged.

According to Aoun, the Lebanese electorate has become "desperate" for change, because since independence in 1943 they had not managed to rid Lebanon of corruption.

"The people now think that any politician in Lebanon will enter the game, and then forget all the promises for change and accountability," he said.

The confluence of money and elections in Lebanon is one of Aoun's focus points, and he accuses the ruling majority squarely of vote- buying.

"They are paying scholarships for students in schools," he alleged.

"I feel disgusted by the situation, they buy people like sheep, and blackmail them with their basic needs. But despite this, they cannot buy the majority," he said.

Aoun is a Maronite Christian, born in 1935 in the mixed Beirut neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, and was head of the country's armed forces during the 1975-1990 civil war. He was exiled following an unsuccessful attempt to evict Syria from Lebanon in 1989, and was one of the first Lebanese leaders to actively challenge the presence of Syrian troops in the country.

He returned to Lebanon in 2005, when his old Syrian enemy was forced to leave following the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Aoun and his supporters were a prominent part of the huge anti- Syrian demonstrations on March 14, 2005, that gave the current ruling coalition their name.

Aoun's past status as a foe of Syrian intervention in Lebanon made his 2005 decision to ally with Damascus-backed Hezbollah all the more surprising.

However, Aoun now told dpa that his party has "found a lot of common ground in national politics, as well as in the building of a just and strong state," he said.

Hezbollah, mostly eschewed by the West as a terrorist organization, have praised Aoun highly, despite being from the other side of Lebanon's long-standing sectarian divides.

Aoun, reciprocating, stands up for Hezbollah.

"The Americans are boycotting them, and they classify them politically as terrorists. This is not a good classification for Hezbollah, because the terrorists kidnap civilians and kill them, carry out destructive acts. But Hezbollah fought Israel. They can't be classified as terrorists because they were defending their land," he told dpa.

In 2005, Aoun's party signed a pro-reform memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah, which focused on political action against corruption and to alleviate the perennial political crises in Lebanese life.

Lebanon's Christian community makes up around 40 per cent of the population, and is believed to command majority support from that community.

Asked if he expected sectarian strife to affect the upcoming election, in which the 128-seat Lebanese parliament will be re- elected following a precise quota system for the country's multiple confessions, Aoun said that notwithstanding fear-mongering about the election of Hezbollah, the vote would be stable.

Although no statistical polls are published in Lebanon, Hezbollah are widely expected to do well in the poll, and may win enough seats to be the main party of government.

The campaign of Hariri's March 14 Alliance "is focusing on spreading fears about Hezbollah taking over the regime," he said.

"I do not find anything positive in their campaign, everything that I see is a kind of war," he said. (dpa)