Polling stations in Lebanon open amid tight security

Beirut: Polling stations opened in Lebanon amid tight security early on Sunday. Surprisingly, there was heavy voter turnout in the morning.

More than three million people are eligible to vote in the elections to elect 128 MPs.

Some 55,000 soldiers and policeman have been deployed to ensure security during the polls, which pits the pro-Western March 14 coalition, led by Sa'ad Hariri, backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, against the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is close to Syria.

Hariri voted in the upper scale district of Ras Beirut. He called for massive turnout and said he felt it was "a festival of democracy" with reports of strong show up by voters across the country.

More than 1,700 voting centres in 26 electoral districts have been set up to receive voters.

TV stations said the situation is calm and there were no reported incidents.

Voting will continue until 7pm.

Ziad Baroud, Interior Minister, said on Saturday he would announce the official election results by Monday afternoon.