Lebanon's Interior Minister Ziad Baroud announced Monday the official results of Lebanon's parliamentary election, in which Saad Hariri's March 14 Alliance won 71 seats out of 128. According to the interior ministry and following the counting of ballots, Hariri Alliance took 71 seats while the Hezbollah-led opposition captured 57, in what was described as a crucial election for Lebanon's future. Turnout was high, at over 55 per cent, Baroud said, which topped the 45.8 per cent that voted in the last parliamentary election in 2005, according to a report of DPA. The voting Sunday took place amid a relatively peaceful atmosphere, with some 50,000 soldiers and security personnel deployed across the country to maintain order. When the result became known late Sunday night, Saad Hariri said "these elections have no winner or loser because the only winner is democracy, and the biggest winner is Lebanon." Election observers from Europe, the United States and several Arab countries were deployed to monitor the polling.
