By Hamza Takeen
BEIRUT (AA) – An electoral list backed by former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has reportedly swept local elections in capital Beirut.
“Initial results show that the ‘Beirutis List’ has won,” al-Hariri’s Future Bloc said in a Monday statement.
Early results indicated that the list was set to clinch all 24 seats on Beirut’s municipal council.
“The results are in our favor and God willing tomorrow we will get to work,” Hariri told supporters outside his Downtown Beirut residence on Sunday night.
Final results, however, have yet to be announced.
On Sunday, Lebanese went to the polls for the first time in six years for the first phase of nationwide municipal elections.
Voting was held in capital Beirut and two provinces of the Bekaa region.
Three other voting rounds will take place over the coming weeks in other parts of the country.
Turnout in Beirut reportedly stood at 20.1 percent, while 49.02 and 40 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Bekaa and Baalbek respectively.
Lebanon has been without a president since 2014, when President Michel Suleiman’s term in office expired.
The country’s last municipal election was held in 2010 and its last parliamentary poll was held in 2009.
Lebanese authorities cite security concerns and the ongoing war in neighboring Syria as reasons for delaying the vote.
Lebanon’s current political scene is deeply polarized between the Shia Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran, and Hariri’s Future Bloc, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.
