Aoun heads for poll victory

Anti-Syrian Christian leader Michel Aoun headed for victory against rival Christian politicians yesterday in the most crucial round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

The defeat of several prominent Christian figures opposed to Syria's role in Lebanon will be sure to complicate the next 128-seat parliament's task of charting the country's new political course.

The elections, held over four weekends ending June 19, are set to usher in a parliament with most legislators opposed to Syria for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Unofficial partial counts showed candidates backed by Mr Aoun set to clinch 15 out of 16 seats up for grabs in yesterday's third round of the elections in the Maronite Christian heartland of North Metn and Byblos-Kesrwan north of Beirut.

But the candidates of former general Aoun, who fell out with other anti-Syrian leaders after returning last month from 14 years in exile, looked set to be beaten by a list backed by Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt in the Baabda-Aley district, where 11 seats are being contested.

Mr Jumblatt's list won all eight seats in the mainly Druze Shouf constituency.

The Hizbollah guerilla group also headed to increase its share in parliament with six members winning seats in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel district. The group has already won seven seats in the first two rounds of the election.

Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in April after popular protests and pressure from the United States, France and other powers, which are likely to urge any new government to disarm Hizbollah and implement political and economic reform.

More than half of the 1.25 million eligible voters cast ballots in the Mount Lebanon and eastern Bekaa Valley regions in the penultimate stage of Lebanon's first national election without the presence of Syrian troops for three decades.

The Interior Ministry said turnout was 54 per cent in Mount Lebanon and 52 per cent in the Bekaa.