Hariri Followers Sweep Beirut_资讯

　allies of saad hariri, son of the assassinated politician rafik hariri, swept all 19 parliamentary seats in beirut, in the first stage of lebanese elections.

　　interior minister hassan al-sabaa announced monday that hariri's party had won all 10 contested seats. and his ticket automatically won nine other seats where there were no challengers.

　　the interior minister said saad had collected 39,500 out of a total of 42,000 votes cast. in one constituency they took five times the number of the nearest challenger.

　　turnout for the election was low, at only 27 percent of the 473,000 eligible voters. this compares with 35 percent in the 2000 parliamentary elections.

　　more than 100 observers from the european union and the united nations watched the vote for irregularities, the first time lebanon has permitted foreign scrutiny.

　　it's the first free ballot in lebanon after syria withdrew its troops after a 29-year presence. it's being held in four stages in different constituencies across the country, on consecutive sundays until june 19.