Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group Washington calls a terrorist organization, and its Amal movement rival in the Shiite Muslim community teamed up in southern Lebanon parliamentary elections yesterday and are expected to easily sweep all 23 seats in that region.
The second of four-stage parliamentary elections began in southern Lebanon yesterday, and the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah expects its wins to give it greater political influence to confront international pressure to disarm now that its Syrian backers have withdrawn from the country.
Polls opened at 7am in the region that is bordered by Israel. The area continues to see occasional tension with the Jewish state since the Israeli troop withdrawal from a border security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000. Polls close at 6pm. About 665,000 men and women are eligible to vote.
The elections, which are scheduled for two more Sundays in other regions, came as tension grew at the burial of a slain anti-Syrian journalist and calls for President Emile Lahoud to resign continued unabated.
Syria pulled all its troops out of Lebanon in April after three decades of control, and the anti-Syrian opposition hopes the elections will end Damascus' control of the legislature.
In last Sunday's polls in Beirut, anti-Syrian opposition candidates took out most of the capital's 19 parliamentary seats. But the vote in the predominantly Shiite south promises to be totally different from the other areas in terms of political objectives.
While the race for parliamentary seats in most Lebanese areas is largely between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps, the election in south Lebanon is geared toward rejecting international pressure to disarm Hezbollah in line with UN Security Council resolution 1559.
Voters in southern Lebanon are united in their support for Hezbollah, crediting it for forcing Israeli troops to withdraw from the region and in their rejection of international attempts to disarm the group. Hezbollah, backed by both Syria and Iran, led a guerrilla war against Israel's 18-year occupation of a border zone in south Lebanon that ended in 2000.
Hezbollah and Amal are running virtually unopposed. Although there are 53 candidates running for the 23 seats, observers expect the Hezbollah-Amal ticket to win in full. Already six candidates won uncontested before the polls began because there were no challengers in their district.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Amal movement, urged the groups' supporters to turn out in large numbers "to vote against Resolution 1559."
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah candidate allied with Amal, said, "The Hezbollah-Amal candidates are waging the south elections under the motto of rejecting Resolution 1559 and defending the [anti-Israel] resistance ... The south's choice is the resistance choice."
Last year's UN Resolution 1559 forced Syrian troops to leave Lebanon and also demands militias -- a clear reference to Hezbollah -- in Lebanon give up their weapons.
The US has also called for the group to abandon its weapons.
Hezbollah has refused to disarm, and Lebanese authorities have rejected US and UN demands to dismantle the group, saying it is a resistance movement, not a militia.
Hezbollah, which is fielding 14 candidates across Lebanon, hopes to build on the nine seats it already holds in the 128-member legislature. It has already won a seat in Beirut.
The death in Beirut of anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir, killed on Thursday by a bomb placed in his car, reignited hostility toward Damascus and prompted calls for Lahoud, Syria's greatest supporter here, to step down.
Hundreds of mourners marched in Beirut on Saturday at Kassir's funeral amid calls for an international investigation into his death.
Kassir, a 45-year-old columnist for An-Nahar newspaper, was a harsh critic of Syria's role in Lebanon. Lebanese opposition members blame Syria and its local allies for Kassir's killing.
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