Lebanese vote in first general election in nine years

By Angus McDowall and Dahlia Nehme BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese voted in their first general election for nine years on Sunday, with the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group and its allies expecting to emerge stronger, a result that would affirm Iran's regional ascendancy from its own borders to the Mediterranean. Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri is frontrunner to keep his job and form a new coalition government after an election seen as vital to Lebanon's economic stability, but his Future Movement was widely expected to lose seats. For many younger Lebanese, Sunday brought a first chance to vote in a national election after parliament twice extended a term that expired in 2013, but Interior Ministry figures from early in the day suggested turnout would be low.

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