Hizbollah, Syria allies win landslide in S. Lebanon polls

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

Official results were not expected until today but the Amal-Hizbollah list, dubbed the "steamroller", claimed it had won all 23 seats up for grabs in the two southern constituencies by a landslide.

"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.

"The results have not changed from the past at all and the south came out to say its word for resistance, for liberation, for development," he had said after polls closed.

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 pull-out.

Hundreds of supporters waving green Amal flags celebrated outside Mr Berri's villa as results began to trickle out. Others drove through streets of southern villages and towns flying yellow Hizbollah and Amal flags.

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 neighbour are being held region by region over four weekends until June 19.