Anti-Syrian factions battle in Lebanon election

BEIRUT - Voters head to the polls in central and eastern Lebanon on Sunday, where anti-Syrian factions are squaring off against each other in the most crucial round of Lebanon's parliamentary election.

With 58 seats up for grabs in the Mount Lebanon and eastern Bekaa Valley districts, the shape of the next 128-seat assembly should become clear in the penultimate stage of Lebanon's first general election since Syria pulled out its troops.

Forty-two legislators have already been elected in the first two rounds of voting in Beirut and south.

Those rounds brought no surprises, with the son of slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri winning a landslide in the mainly Sunni capital and a joint Hizbollah and Amal slate sweeping polls in the southern Shi'ite heartland.

But anti-Syrian factions are set to battle it out in the Christian and Druze mountain stronghold before the election wraps up in northern Lebanon on June 19.

The most heated battles involve Christian leader Michel Aoun against a coalition led by Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt in the central Baabda-Aley constituency and against a strong Christian alliance in the Byblos-Kesrwan district.

Aoun, a former general, has fallen out with the other anti-Syrian leaders since returning to Lebanon in May from 14 years of exile.

He slams his rivals as "traditionalists" who benefited from Syria's role in Lebanon since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war only turning against Damascus in recent months.

Aoun says he is a "reformist" and vows to fight corruption he says leaders from across the political divide indulged in.

Anti-Syrian factions are set to win a majority in the assembly, riding a wave of sympathy over Hariri's killing.

Hariri's killing sparked massive street protests that forced Syria to bow to international pressure to end its 29-year military and intelligence presence in Lebanon in April.

- REUTERS