Voters trickled to the polls in Beirut today in a parliamentary election starting a month after Syrian troops quit Lebanon, with the son of assassinated former premier Rafik al-Hariri seeking a clean sweep.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said early turnout was estimated at a modest 12 percent after four hours of voting in the mainly Sunni Muslim capital. "This (election) is a very important achievement and a proof of our commitment to our constitutional institutions," he told a midday news conference.
Nine of the city's 19 seats have already gone uncontested to nominees of Saad al-Hariri, a 35-year-old businessman thrust into politics by the February 14th killing of his father.
Riding a wave of sympathy, Hariri is set to score a landslide in Beirut, the first region to vote for the 128-member parliament in elections phased over four successive Sundays.
"The people will have their say today and demonstrate their loyalty to Rafik al-Hariri," his son told reporters. The polls follow two political earthquakes in Lebanon - Hariri's killing in a bomb blast many Lebanese blamed on Damascus, and the end of Syria's 29-year troop presence.
Between those landmark events, flag-waving Christians and Muslims, including many civil war foes, flooded the streets in protests against Syria, which denied any hand in Hariri's death. For some, Lebanon's first elections in three decades without Syrian troops offer a new start.
"I voted because I believe in change," Basil Eid (27), said. "We want Lebanon free of any subordination. We have to rule ourselves by ourselves."
For others, the euphoria of the anti-Syrian protests has given way to dismay at politicians who have reverted to electoral horse-trading and alliances that curtail voter choice. "Why should I vote when the result is already decided?" said Abdul-Rahman Itani, in his 40s, near the polling station where the late Hariri's widow Nazik cast her ballot.
Armed police and soldiers guarded polling stations in Beirut, where more than 400,000 people are eligible to vote. Official results will be declared tomorrow.
"Things are quiet and very normal. We hope it continues like this until the end of the day," Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa told reporters.
"There are no problems whatsoever." For the first time, foreign observers are monitoring the polls, with a team of more than 100 led by the European Union.
"It's a festival of democracy," the chief of the EU mission, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, told reporters at one polling station. Critics of Syria, which tightened its grip on Lebanon after the 1975-90 civil war, say its intelligence chiefs manipulated previous elections in favour of its political partners.
Many Lebanese are unhappy with the current electoral law, designed to favour Syria's allies in the last election in 2000. Many of the old faces will return to the assembly, but Damascus will no longer be the sole arbiter of Lebanese politics.