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Lebanon's citizens have gone to the polls in a general election that will decide the shape of the government for the next four years and could see a Hezbollah-led coalition win a majority.
Polls opened at 7am local time (04:00 GMT), with security tight across the country and more than 200 international observers on hand to oversee the vote.
The build-up to the elections has been calm, but more than 50,000 soldiers and police have been deployed across the country in case of violence.
Some polls forecast a narrow victory for Hezbollah and its allies, including the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by Michel Aoun, a Christian leader and former military chief.
Foreign influence
Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the influential Christian Maronite patriarch, gave warning on Saturday of "a threat to the Lebanese entity and its Arab identity".
His remarks have been seen as a veiled attack on Hezbollah, which enjoys backing from Iran.
By contrast, the governing "March 14" coalition is backed by the US and other countries.
It swept to power in 2005, amid a wave of popular discontent following the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former prime minister, in a massive car bombing in Beirut, and is led by Saad al-Hariri, Rafiq al-Hariri's son.
But conducted under a new law, this year's election will largely be decided by the voting in divided Christian districts.
Aoun faces Christian rivals in the shape of the Phalange party led by Amin Gemayel, a former president, and the Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea, another March 14 camp leader.
In the run-up to the elections, much of the campaigning has focused on Hezbollah's military power, which is stronger than the state's security forces.
Opponents say Hezbollah's weapons undermine the state, while the group and its allies see them as crucial to defending Lebanon from Israel.
Sectarian tension brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war last year when more than 100 people were killed in violence before an agreement led to the election of Michel Sleiman, then the army chief, as president and the formation of a national unity government.
Lebanon's power-sharing system divides the 128 seats in parliament equally between Christians and Muslims.
The country's president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia.
Polls are due to close at 7pm local time (16:00 GMT).
PHOTO CAPTION
Lebanese soldiers take up position ahead of Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary election, in Tripoli June 6, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
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