Jumblatt wins 27 seats in 3rd stage of Lebanese election

- Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt's list won 27 seats in central Mount Lebanon in Sunday's polls, official results showed Monday.

Among the 58 seats up for grabs in the third round of Lebanon's parliamentary election, anti-Syrian Christian leader Michel Aoun and his allies won 21 seats in the Maronite Christian heartlands northeast of Beirut, and pro-Syrian Hezbollah won 10 seats in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Interior Minister Hassan Sabei announced.

The strong showing put up by Aoun, a former military commander who returned from 14 years of exile on May 7, dealt a blow to other anti-Syrian candidates, who wanted to clinch a majority in the 128- member parliament.

Cracks emerged in Lebanon's opposition when Aoun announced on May 24 to field his own candidates to stand in the election, breaking up with his anti-Syrian allies of Muslims and Druze.

This decision came after Aoun failed to reach agreements with his opposition allies to field a joint list to compete in the four- stage election, spanning from May 29 to June 19 in four consecutive Sundays.

The opposition led by Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated former premier Rafik Hariri, won all 19 seats in Beirut in the first stage on May 29, and pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies won all 23 seats in southern Lebanon in the second stage on June 5.

Twenty eight seats are up for grabs in the fourth and last stage of the election on June 19 in northern Lebanon.

The election is the first in the country in nearly 30 years without a foreign military presence.

Lebanese opposition, mainly consisting of Sunni Arabs, Christian Maronites and Druze, was a main driving force behind a Syrian pullout from Lebanon late April, ending a 29-year military presence in its tiny neighbor.

Source: Xinhua