BEIRUT Lebanese voters dealt stinging blows to government-backed candidates in a first round of parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed on Monday. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, Pierre Gemayel, son of former president Amin Gemayel, and Nassib Lahoud, a dissident cousin of President Emile Lahoud were among opposition victors.
Notable casualties included pro-Syrian figures such as former Christian warlord Elie Hobeika, ex-foreign minister Fares Bouez and Zahir al-Khatib, a deputy in the outgoing assembly. State radio said Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss went to Syria to meet President Bashar al-Assad, the main power-broker in Lebanon since his father Hafez al-Assad died in July. Murr, who is combining the task of supervising the polls with that of running the government's election campaign, said on Sunday voting had taken place in a "democratic and neutral atmosphere" with no serious security problems.
He said initial figures suggested about 51 percent of 1.3 million registered voters went to the polls to choose 63 deputies for the two areas whose residents are mostly Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze, an offshoot of Islam. People in Beirut, the south and the Bekaa valley vote for the remaining 65 seats in Parliament next Sunday. The elections are run on sectarian lines, with the 128 seats divided equally between Muslims and Christians. These shares are subdivided among each of the 18 recognized religious sects.
(Reuter)