Hizbollah set to sweep Lebanon polls

HOULA, Lebanon - Syria's staunchest allies Hizbollah and Amal have swept south Lebanon's general elections, in a crushing victory seen as a vote for anti-Israeli guerrillas to keep their weapons.

Official results were not due until Monday but the Amal-Hizbollah slate, dubbed the "steamroller," claimed it had taken all 23 seats up for grabs in the south. Unofficial counts indicated the alliance had won more than 80 per cent of votes.

"I thank all my people in the great south for renewing their confidence in the list and for the victory of all its candidates," Amal leader and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told a news conference in the south.

Many in the Shi'ite Muslim heartland see a vote for Hizbollah as a vote for the group to retain its arms as a defence against neighbouring Israel, which occupied the south for 22 years until its 2000 pullout.

"The aim is to defend Lebanon, not the weapons of the resistance. But to defend Lebanon we must defend the weapons," Sheikh Naeem Kassem, deputy head of Hizbollah, told reporters.

"Today, southerners said this and the international community must listen."

Hundreds of supporters waving Amal flags celebrated outside Berri's villa as results began to trickle out. Others drove through villages and towns, honking their horns and flying the two parties' yellow and green flags.

Fireworks exploded above central Beirut as the celebrations spilled over to the capital.

Hizbollah, which Washington labels a terrorist group, and the more moderate Amal are the dominant forces among the Shi'ites, Lebanon's largest sect.

Lebanon's first general elections since Syrian troops quit their smaller neighbor are being held region by region over four weekends until June 19.

In the south, the Amal-Hizbollah list won six seats before a single vote was cast, due to the lack of challengers.

Interior Ministry sources said turnout among the 675,000 eligible voters was 45 per cent.

Damascus backed both Amal and Hizbollah during and after the 1975-1990 civil war, and Shi'ites largely stayed away from anti-Syrian street protests that swept Beirut after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Those protests, which united Christians, Sunnis and Druze, forced Syria to bow to world pressure and end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April.

BIG CHALLENGES

The biggest challenges facing the new parliament include a UN resolution demanding Hizbollah disarm and demands by the anti-Syrian opposition for President Emile Lahoud to resign.

Both are divisive issues. Syrian-backed Lahoud vowed on Sunday to stay despite facing opposition blame for Hariri's death and the killing of an anti-Syrian journalist last week.

At least five people were wounded in pre-election violence east of Beirut on Sunday when a gunbattle erupted between supporters of rival Druze parties armed with assault rifles.

It was not clear how the clash in the mountain resort of Sofar began, but the army said it had detained 20 troublemakers.

Central and eastern Lebanon will vote next weekend in what promises to be the most heated round of polling.

The anti-Syrian opposition is expected to win in most parts of Lebanon, buoyed by public sympathy over Hariri's death and by his son Saad's landslide in the first round in Beirut last week.

But the key issue in the south is different.

Banners in many southern towns urged voters to choose the Amal-Hizbollah list as a rejection of international pressure to disarm the guerrilla group, whose attacks were instrumental in driving Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.

"Your vote is a bullet in the enemy's chest," read a banner in the mainly Sunni city of Sidon.

Some Christian opposition politicians had called for an election boycott, complaining the shape of the districts made it difficult to challenge the Amal-Hizbollah slate.

Turnout was lower in Christian areas, where supporters of staunch anti-Syrian Michel Aoun handed out leaflets declaring that "democracy has been burned in parliament."

It was healthier among Shi'ites. Hizbollah and Amal supporters clad in their yellow and green colours drove around blaring patriotic songs and canvassing votes.

"I am going to vote for Hizbollah because they liberated the south. We owe them our blood," said Zeinab Yasin in Houla.

(Additional reporting by Alaa Shahine in Nabatiyeh, Hussein Saad in Tyre, Ali Hashisho in Sidon, Lin Noueihed and Nadim Ladki in Beirut)

- REUTERS