Elections started last Sunday , May 29 in Beirut to elect a new parliament for Lebanon. The Parliament will consist of 128 members.

As expected most eligible voters stayed out of the polls in 2 main areas of the South:

Jezzine: In this mostly Christian town, there were many calls for election boycott. The Christians feel that the 2000 election law is not fair for them , because the smaller area of Jezzine was made part of a large district, which will dilute the effect of the christain vote . Hence they feel this will not be a true representaion of their community.

Sidon: Here the situation is different. Both Candidates, Bahia Hariri and Osama Ossairan, won as unopposed candidates. Even though they both ran as independent candidates, the Hezbollah, Berri Coalition left slots in their lists for them, which made them win by default. The turnout will be low here because the voters will have little incentive to vote , since results are already won.

It is expected that the Hezbollah, Berri Coalition will sweep the elections in the south, as Hariri did in Beirut. So far six of the 23 seats have been won as unopposed

Speaker Nabih Berri was one of the first to vote in his district. After voting , he appealed to all citizens in a televized conference to go out and vote.

It is expected that the Hezbollah, Berri Coalition will sweep the elections in the south, as Hariri did in Beirut. So far six of the 23 seats have been won as unopposed

Hezbollah and Amal, led Speaker Nabih Berri, are the dominating forces among the Shiites, Lebanon's largest sect. Both groups were backed by Damascus during and since the 1975-1990 civil war and Shiites largely stayed away from the anti-Syrian protests.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to fight any attempt to disarm his guerrillas, who played a major role in driving Israel from south Lebanon in 2000. But some opposition leaders have urged the group to lay down its weapons.Nasrallah warned on Friday that U.S. pressure on Lebanon could lead to a civil strife and urged the Lebanese to unite and reject Washington's demands.

Ya Libnan will report the final results of this election day as soon as they become known

Sources: Ya Libnan , AP, Reuters