Large Turnout for Lebanses Vote

Many voters returned to their hometowns in Mount Lebanon, the country's most populous province, and to the Bekaa Valley to cast their ballots in the third of four rounds of staggered parliamentary elections, the first free of the dominance of Syrian forces in nearly three decades.

Anti-Syrian forces need a strong showing in Sunday's vote -- at least 45 seats for a majority -- to win a firm grasp on the 128-member Parliament and wean it of Damascus' control. But the campaign has led to some surprising alliances and some races were too close to call.

Lines formed outside polling stations in Mount Lebanon, a mountain region surrounding Beirut and stretching north and south of the city.

Halfway through the voting, turnout topped 50 percent in some areas, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.

Michel Aoun, who recently broke with other opponents of Damascus and forged alliances with pro-Syrian politicians to form an anti-corruption ticket, was among the first to vote. He arrived under heavy guard at a polling station Haret Hreik, a Shiite Muslim southern suburb of Beirut that is the stronghold of the pro-Syrian militant group Hezbollah.

About 200 supporters cheered and applauded for the Christian leader, who returned home in May after 14 years' exile in France.

Aoun, who was making his first trip to his hometown in more than 20 years, said he hoped his Free Patriotic Movement would debut in Parliament with at least 12 seats. "In the end, we all bow before the people's will," he told reporters.

The former general was the main challenger of the anti-Syrian opposition in Mount Lebanon and his success could hurt the opposition's drive to gain a majority in the legislature and, depending on the number of seats he gains, could make him a key player in the effort to end Syrian control.

Druse opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, who has claimed that pro-Syrians brought Aoun out of exile to divide the opposition, pledged not to allow the former general "to steal our victory."

"We are laying the foundations for a moderate, independent Lebanon," Jumblatt said of his alliance with right-wing Christians, Hezbollah and Saad Hariri, the son of the slain former Premier Rafik Hariri. Jumblatt, too, has forged alliances with pro-Syrians like Hezbollah and the Shiite Amal group.

About 1.2 million men and women over 21 are eligible to vote Sunday. Some 100 candidates are competing in Mount Lebanon for 35 seats, allocated to different sects according to Lebanon's power-sharing political system. In the eastern Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, 119 people were competing for 23 seats. Official results were not expected before Monday.

Two seats that were uncontested in Mount Lebanon went to Jumblatt and ally Marwan Hamadeh, both lawmakers in the outgoing parliament.

In the first two rounds of voting, in Beirut and the south, seats were split almost evenly between