Against the odds, Hariri leads allies to Lebanon win

* Hariri steers allies to second Lebanon election win

* Sunni leader seen frontrunner for PM

* At heart of Lebanon's turbulence since 2005

By Tom Perry

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Four years after filling a political chasm left by his father's assassination, Saad al-Hariri has completed a crash course in Lebanese politics by leading his allies to electoral victory for a second time.

A political novice when he inherited the mantle of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, Saad defied many predictions by steering his anti-Syrian "March 14" camp to victory in Sunday's vote, beating a rival alliance supported by Damascus and Iran.

At 39, Hariri is now seen as favorite to step into the post of prime minister long dominated by his father, whose assassination pitched Lebanon into a deep crisis that has defined his son's short political career.

"I have no doubt that the martyr, Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, and the rest of the martyrs of freedom in Lebanon are looking at this scene with reassurance that Lebanon is well," Hariri told supporters after his victory became clear.

He prayed at his father's grave in Beirut at dawn.

A wave of outrage at the killing, blamed on Syria by Hariri followers, helped March 14 win an election in 2005. The result was a government headed by factions opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon for the first time since the 1975-90 civil war.

With Hariri new on the political scene at the time, the premiership was entrusted to Fouad Siniora, a long-time aide of his billionaire father. Hariri, who was instantly acknowledged as Lebanon's main Sunni politician, became leader of the majority coalition.

"The first time it was said that he won the majority because of his father's blood," said Nabil Boumonsef, a columnist with the pro-March 14 an-Nahar newspaper. "But this time he did it through political experience," he said.

"This is a great victory for him personally. This gives him a new political maturity."

AT HEART OF CRISIS

Were he to follow his father's footsteps into office, Hariri would have to deal with Damascus as a statesman -- potentially difficult given the accusations he has leveled at the neighboring country. Syria denies killing his father.

Hariri's hostile relationship with Damascus was mirrored by a paralyzing and sometimes violent power struggle with Syria's Lebanese allies, chief among them the Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

The powerful faction accused Hariri, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States, of departing from his father's path by deliberately stoking Sunni-Shi'ite tensions and creating new divisions among Lebanon's Muslims. Hezbollah said he had armed followers to take on the Shi'ite faction's powerful guerrilla wing -- charges Hariri has always denied. Tensions spilled into fighting in May 2008, when Hezbollah and its allies routed Hariri supporters in Beirut.

Pushed on to the backfoot, Hariri and his allies yielded to their opponents' demands for more power in government as part of a Qatari-mediated deal that halted the worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Since then, Hariri has adopted a more conciliatory stance toward his rivals.

Before being plunged into Lebanon's volatile politics, Hariri led a playboy lifestyle as his father's second son. He had been running his father's construction business in Saudi Arabia at the time of the assassination.

Rafik al-Hariri said he did not want any of his sons to go into politics. But Saad was picked to assume his mantle, adding a new family to an array of Lebanese political dynasties.

(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)