Voters on Sunday went to polling stations in central and eastern Lebanon in the most crucial round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections. The most interesting contests involved Christian leader and a formerly exiled general, Michel Aoun, and his allies against a coalition led by Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in the central Baabda-Aley constituency and against a Christian alliance in the Byblos-Kesrwan district.
32 seats are up for grabs in the central Mount Lebanon voting district and another 23 seats in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
A total of 1.25 million people are eligible to vote in the Mount Lebanon and eastern Bekaa Valley regions in Lebanon's first national election without the presence of Syrian troops for three decades. The final stage of voting is scheduled for 19 June.
Aoun, who led a "war of liberation" against Syrian troops in Lebanon in 1989, has allied for these elections with leading pro-Syrian figures in different areas in the country after falling out with the rest of the opposition groups.
