(12 Jun 2005) SHOTLIST
Kesrwan-Byblos
1. Wide shot pan harbour at Byblos
2. Various of Lebanese army security
3. Exterior of polling station
4. Various of people voting
5. General Michel Aoun with supporters
6. SOUNDBITE (English) General Michel Aoun, Free Patriotic Movement:
"I am expecting a very good result - at least about 80 percent of the seats."
7. Wide for Aoun with supporters
8. SOUNDBITE (English) General Michel Aoun, Free Patriotic Movement:
"It is going very well, in good climate till now, we don't have any incidents except the corruption that is used by Jumblatt and Hariri."
Aleyh, Mount Lebanon
9. Wide shot pan of Aleyh city
10. Various of people voting
11. Headquarters of Progressive Socialist Party (of opposition leader Walid Jumblatt)
12. Jumblatt picture with banner "Independence 05" on his party HQ
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Akram Chehayyeb, opposition candidate:
"We were hoping that all the opposition would stand together in order to continue after the elections to confront this security regime that is allied historically with the Syrian intelligence and that did stop but wasn't defeated."
14. Cars with Hezbollah and Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) flags
Rachayya, Western Bekaa
15. Village of Rachayya
16. Children with PSP flags
17. Queuing at polling station
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Wael Abu Faour, opposition candidate:
"Despite the presence of international observers and despite the withdrawal of Syrian intelligence, there is still interference from Syrian intelligence and the deputies that follow them."
19. Cars with Syrian Socialist Party flags
STORYLINE
Voter turnout was high on Sunday during the third stage of parliamentary elections in Lebanon.
Elections are organised by regions and on Sunday it was the turn of voters in the central and eastern regions to cast their votes.
Turnout has been high in Mount Lebanon, the mountain region surrounding Beirut and stretching north and south of the city.
Many stood in line outside polling stations to vote in the nation's first elections free of Syrian forces in 29 years.
About 100 candidates are competing in Mount Lebanon for 35 seats, allocated to different sects according to Lebanon's power-sharing political system.
In the Baabda-Aley constituency, the Aoun-Arsalan alliance was competing against the Jumblatt-backed Progressive Socialist Party, and the Lebanese Forces, the main Christian militia during Lebanon's civil war, as well as Hezbollah.
Rival Christian tickets contested the Christian heartland of Kesrwan-Byblos, where Aoun is running for a seat.
In the eastern Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, 119 people are challenging 23 seats.
Minor scuffles were reported but the voting was largely peaceful.
Michel Aoun, a staunchly anti-Syrian former army commander, is challenging the anti-Syrian opposition in Mount Lebanon with his Free Patriotic Movement.
The vote in central Mount Lebanon, the nation's most populous region, has been billed as the "mother of all battles" as it pits the anti-Syrian coalition against those supporting Aoun.
Aoun, who fought and lost a war against Syria in 1989, was one of Syria's main Lebanese foes but recently broke with other opponents of Damascus and forged alliances with pro-Syrian politicians.
Anti-Syrian opposition also teamed up with Syrian-backed Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian Shiite Amal in some districts.
In the Bekaa, Hezbollah was expected to dominate the northern Baalbek-Hermel district. Elsewhere, candidates from the opposition, pro-Syrians, independents and traditional families fought for seats.
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