Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, a member of Beirut Madinati, an electoral list for the upcoming Beirut municipality polls, leaves a ballot booth before casting her vote at a polling station during the municipal elections in Be…
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The number of municipal seats contested in the first round of municipal elections in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley is 2,124, while the number of mayors’ posts is 668.
Only about 470,000 voters are registered in the capital despite nearly four times more people living there.
Polling stations opened at 0400 GMT in Beirut and in two provinces of the Bekaa region in the first stage of a vote to last until May 29 in five other provinces.
A new Lebanese protest movement said on Tuesday it had won 40 percent of the vote in weekend municipal elections and hailed the result as a blow against the political establishment even though it failed to win any council seats.
The government has cited security concerns and war in neighboring Syria as reasons for the delays in organizing elections.
According to allegations disseminated on social media, Beirut Madinati ballots were discarded from a certain ballot box, and a representative of the party’s list who came to inspect the vote was kicked out when he attempted to report the violation.
In the Beirut battle, the “Beirutis’ List” backed by the Future Movement and an alliance between Amal, Jamaa Al-Islamiya, the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement made an acceptable victory by a wide margin against the list of “Beirut Madinati”.
“It was a complete victory”, said Qassem of the outcome of the votes in the historic city of Ba’albek and the major town of Brital, which is located along the Syria border.
Hezbollah is facing fierce competition in the Baalbek-Hermel district village of Brital against the list supported by Sheikh Sobhi Tufaily.
Eastern Lebanon has held its first elections in almost six years over the weekend, and early results are showing a dominant performance for the coalition of parties which includes Hezbollah, with the parties particularly strong in the area around Baalbek.
In the Bekaa, Hezbollah-backed lists won in most municipalities, initial unofficial results showed.
Hezbollah’s bloc did not run in municipalities around Zahleh, the Bekaa provincial capital, where Christian parties had a coalition that swept the results.
“The Beirut Madinati campaign has restored the meaning of elections and gave hope to the youths who struggled against the stinking trash that had trumpeted the bankruptcy of the ruling class”, the Beirut Marinate added.
Turnout was higher in the east, where Hezbollah is popular, with the figure reaching 48 percent in Baalbek.
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The country’s last municipal election was held in 2010 and its last parliamentary poll was held in 2009.
