InfoAnda - Lebanese vote calmly in high-stakes election

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Search Search: Lebanese vote calmly in high-stakes election Reuters - Monday, June 8 By Yara Bayoumy ADVERTISEMENT BEIRUT - Lebanese crowded peacefully to the polls on Sunday in a high-stakes parliamentary election that pits Hezbollah and its allies, backed by Syria and Iran, against an anti-Syrian bloc that has U.S. and Saudi support. Long queues spilt onto streets near some polling centres in Beirut. Some voters said they had been waiting for more than two hours to cast their ballot in what was widely expected to be a close contest between evenly balanced rival camps. The two sides are at odds over Hezbollah's guerrilla force, which outguns the Lebanese army, and relations with neighbouring Syria, which dominated Lebanon for three decades until 2005. Even if Hezbollah and its allies reverse their opponent's slim parliamentary majority, the likeliest outcome of the poll is another "national unity" government -- perhaps with a small group of independents holding the balance, analysts say. No violence was reported in the first few hours after voting began at 7 a.m. . The authorities deployed 50,000 troops and police across Lebanon, concentrated in the most fiercely contested districts in mainly Christian areas. Armoured personnel carriers dotted the streets of Beirut's Christian Ashrafiyeh district. "Democracy is a blessing we must preserve, a blessing that distinguishes Lebanon in the Middle East," said President Michel Suleiman after voting in his home town of Amchit, north of Beirut. He urged Lebanese to vote "calmly and with joy." Christians, nearly 40 percent of Lebanon's 3.26 million eligible voters, are divided between the two main political blocs and their votes are expected to decide the election. CRUCIAL VOTE "This time it is really going to matter," Charbel Nakouzi, 40, a London-based banker, said outside a polling station in the mainly Christian district of Metn. Supporters of rival factions, wearing t-shirts in party colours, handed out candidate lists outside polling stations. There have been widespread reports of vote-buying before the poll, with some Lebanese expatriates being offered free air tickets home. But Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said voting itself was proceeding peacefully and turnout appeared high. The United States, which lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group, has linked future aid to Lebanon to the shape and policies of the next government. Hezbollah, which says it must keep its arms to deter Israel, is part of the outgoing cabinet. The anti-Syrian majority coalition, led by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri, has enjoyed firm backing from many Western countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, since the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father Rafik al-Hariri. The coalition took power after an election that followed Hariri's killing, but struggled to govern in the face of a sometimes violent conflict with Hezbollah and its allies. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who heads a team of international observers, urged Lebanese parties and their foreign backers to accept the result of the vote. "I don't have any concerns over the conduct of the elections. I have concerns over the acceptance of the results by all the major parties," he said at a Beirut polling station. Perhaps 100 of the 128 seats in parliament are already decided, thanks to sectarian voting patterns and political deals, with Sunni and Shi'ite communities on opposing sides. But in Christian areas, former army commander Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah, is up against the Phalange Party of former President Amin Gemayel and the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea. Partisans at a polling centre in Dikwaneh, part of the Christian Metn district, derided their opponents' chances. "There is no division in the Christian vote -- 80 percent ... support ," said Rana, 27, a bank worker who carried a water bottle with an orange top, Aoun's party colour. Elie Abu Aboud, 27, said: "I am was voting against the opposition and Hezbollah and terrorism. Let him go with Syria and Iran. If they lose, they will create trouble." Tensions in Lebanon have mostly been kept in check by leaders whose rivalries pushed the country to the brink of civil war last year. A thaw in ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria has also helped maintain stability in Lebanon in recent months. 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