News Service from House Harris

MID: Observers say Lebanon vote appears fair

BEIRUT, June 7 AFP - International and local observers said on Sunday that Lebanon's general election appears free of any flagrant violations despite some organisational problems and isolated security incidents.

"The issues that were raised are not dissimilar from those raised in any election," said John Sununu, a former US senator overseeing the election with the National Democratic Institute headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The vote is widely viewed as a crossroads as it could see the current Sunni-led majority, backed by regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, ousted by a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Iran.

Authorities appeared overwhelmed on Sunday by the crowds of people who lined up at polling stations by early morning, with many Lebanese complaining of long waits of up three hours to cast their ballots.

"There were certainly long waiting lines because turnout was high," Sununu told AFP. "But there don't seem to have been any grave violations, and I'm not aware that any monitors were made to feel uncomfortable or intimidated in any way."

While no major incidents were reported, three people were arrested for using fake IDs and the army intervened in the mostly-Christian eastern city of Zahle after some voters traded insults and blows.

The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), which had 2,200 observers monitoring the vote, said six of their monitors had been taunted out of polling centres and one of their staff was threatened at gunpoint, also in Zahle.

"One of our monitors was held at gunpoint in a centre in Zahle, which threw everyone into panic," LADE secretary general Ziad Abdul Samad told AFP.

Retired French diplomat Yves Aubin de la Mesuziere, who headed a delegation by the International Organisation of the Francophonie, said voting had been smooth in the polling centres he and his team visited in Beirut.

"We didn't notice any fraud but some shortcomings as far as organisation in some stations," he told AFP.

Some observers said there could be challenges to the result in areas where the vote is down to the wire.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, who is heading a team of international observers, said he hopes Lebanon's political parties and their foreign backers will accept the election outcome.

"We don't have any worries over the conduct of the elections," Carter said. "We have concerns over the acceptance of the results by all the major parties."

More than 200 international observers, including over 100 EU observers, oversaw the election.

Polling officially ended at 1600 GMT on Sunday (0200 AEST Monday) and results are expected on Monday.