Low turnout mars Hariri son's polls win in Beirut

Official results released yesterday showed Saad al-Hariri's slate grabbing all 19 seats in the capital in Sunday's first stage of the staggered election to the 128-member assembly. Only 28 percent of the 420,000 eligible voters turned out.

Many people in Beirut stayed away because Hariri's victory was a foregone conclusion, with nine of the 19 seats falling unopposed to his bloc even before the vote.

Though he is a political newcomer, the win makes Hariri, 35, a strong contender to lead the next government and pursue the political and economic policies of his billionaire businessman father, who was assassinated in Beirut on Feb. 14.

Hariri has avoided saying publicly if he wants the post.

Among major challenges facing Lebanon are redefining ties with Syria, international demands to disarm Shia Muslim Hizbollah guerrillas and tackling a debt of $34 billion.

The vote follows two political earthquakes in Lebanon -- Hariri's killing in a bomb blast many Lebanese blamed on Damascus, and the end of Syria's 29-year troop presence.

Results announced by Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa showed Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, won 39,500 of 42,000 votes cast in his constituency, the highest number in any of the 10 contested seats in the mainly Sunni Lebanese capital.