Polls close in second phase of Lebanon municipal elections (Roundup)

May 9, 2010, 17:50 GMT

Beirut - The second phase of Lebanon's local elections ended Sunday as polling stations in the capital Beirut and in the east of the country closed, registering a low turnout in key districts.

According to Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, Beirut registered the lowest turnout with 18 per cent, while in some areas in the Bekaa region, in eastern Lebanon, it reached 38 per cent.

Results are not expected until tomorrow.

The elections were the second phase of four rounds of voting, which take place each Sunday throughout the month of May.

Some 963 local councils and nearly 2,800 mayors are due to be elected.

Nearly 451,000 registered voters were eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday.

Polling stations opened at 7 am (0400 GMT). In Beirut, voters chose from a list of 94 candidates for the 24-member municipal council.

Meanwhile, 49 electoral seats out of 155 were won without contest in the Bekaa region.

Political observers have said that the 'Beirut Unity' list, launched by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, would sweep to victory in the elections. The real interest was the size of the voter turnout and not the results.

Hariri had urged the capital's residents to turn out in force on Sunday in order to avoid the 'big trap that has been set up to sabotage equal Christian-Muslim power-sharing in Beirut.'

The main battle in Beirut was expected to take place over 28 seats for mayors mainly in the Christian areas where the western- backed majority was expected to compete with Christian opposition close to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Earlier in the week, Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun announced that his 'Free Patriotic Movement' would withdraw from the elections.

He said that his party would only take part in the mayoral elections alongside its ally Hezbollah, which also withdrew from the municipal elections.