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Heavy turnout in Lebanon’s poll

PHOTO: AP

HIGH-STAKES POLL: Lebanese line up to cast votes in Bikfaya on Sunday.

DUBAI: Lebanese thronged polling stations on Sunday to elect a coalition which could topple the ruling pro-western combine.

A string of vehicles headed out of capital Beirut to outlying areas in the north, south or east, carrying voters to their hometowns.

Lebanon has nearly 3.2 million eligible voters. Lebanon’s polls have attracted worldwide attention because of their larger geopolitical implication.

The Lebanese Hizbollah, a close ally of Iran and Syria, is heading a coalition which is expected to do well. This coalition also includes the Amal, another Shia formation and the former Prime Minister, Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), which has a large Christian support base. Opposing it is a pro-western combination led by Saad Hariri, son of the slain former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. It’s other constituents include a large clan of the Druze community, led by Walid Jumblatt. Two important formations — Samir Geagea’s Christian Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb or Christian Phalengist Party — are also part of this combination.

Lebanon’s neighbour Israel, which fought a bitter war against Hizbollah in 2006, has already sounded an alarm, apprehending that the group could emerge successful.

“If Hizbollah wins the election, it will be very bad and will create another Iranian entity in the Middle East after Hamas,” said Israel’s Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“Iran is trying to take over Lebanon and that would be a very negative development,” he warned. “The Iranian threat is gaining speed and obliges us, together with the moderate Arab states and the United States, to take action.”

Syria’s official Al-Baath daily, on the other hand, encouraged voters to back the anti-Israel resistance which Hizbollah represented.

The high stakes polling has been protected by nearly 50,000 soldiers and police whom were deployed on major highways. Nearly 200 international observers from the European Union, the Carter Center and other globally reputed bodies monitored the election.

The former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, spoke at a polling station, expressing hope that the U.S., Iran and other countries “will accept the results of the election and not try to interfere in the process.”

In the outgoing Parliament, the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats, while Hizbollah’s alliance had 58. Unofficial results are expected to trickle in by late Sunday, with the final tally out by Monday afternoon.

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