BEIRUT (AP) — The deputy leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says their candidates and allies won a vast majority of seats in areas where they ran in local elections in eastern Lebanon. Sheikh Naim Kassem said on Monday that Hezbollah and its allies ran in 80 municipalities out of 143 where voting took place the previous day in the Bekaa Valley and won almost all the seats.
He says that includes all municipal seats in the eastern historic city of Baalbek and the major town of Brital along the Syria border. Kassem says Hezbollah’s opponents secured some seats in six towns in the area.
The Lebanese voted Sunday in municipal elections in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, the first balloting in the country since 2010. Results for Beirut are expected later Monday.