The son of slain Rafik al-Hariri headed for victory in Beirut polls on Sunday, but voters denied him the high turnout he sought in Lebanon’s first parliamentary election in three decades with no Syrian troops in the country.Even before the vote began, nine of the city’s 19 seats had gone uncontested to nominees of Saad al-Hariri, a businessman thrust into politics by the February 14 killing of his father, who as prime minister led Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction drive.UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen congratulated Lebanon for conducting first round of polling successfully.‘‘These elections . represent a significant step for the Lebanese in their quest for recovering full political independence and sovereignty,’’ he said in a statement.Only a handful of pro-Syrian leftists and Muslim militants were competing with Hariri’s Future bloc in mainly Sunni Muslim Beirut, where around 400,000 people were eligible to vote.Hariri’s supporters began a victory dance at one of his offices as polls closed at 6 pm. The 35-year-old billionaire had called for a high turnout, but an Interior ministry official put it at only about 28 pc. Voting was especially thin in Christian areas.There was a 34 pc turnout in 2000, when Hariri’s father, then cooperating with Syria, swept the board.Hariri is set to repeat that landslide in mainly Sunni Muslim Beirut, the first region to vote for the 128-member parliament in elections phased over four successive Sundays.‘‘The people will have their say today and demonstrate their loyalty to Rafik al-Hariri,’’ he said. ‘‘Those who are against us today do not want a unified Beirut.’’Followers of Christian leader Michel Aoun, left off Hariri’s anti-Syrian ticket, had urged people to shun the polls, handing out orange stickers that said: ‘‘Boycott the appointments’’.The Armenian Tashnag party, disgruntled because the four seats reserved for Beirut’s big Armenian community had gone unopposed to Hariri’s candidates, also demanded a boycott.The polls follow two political earthquakes — Hariri’s killing in a bomb blast many Lebanese blamed on Damascus, and the end of Syria’s 29-year troop presence.For some, Lebanon’s first elections in three decades without Syrian troops offer a new start. ‘‘I voted because I believe in change,’’ Basil Eid, 27, said ‘‘We want Lebanon free of subordination.” —Reuters
