The Lebanese Interior Ministry has announced that the Shi'ite group Hezbollah and right-wing Christian groups have made significant gains in the country's first municipal elections in 35 years.

Both Hezbollah and the Christian groups made their gains at the expense of government-backed candidates, including those of the Shi'ite Amal movement.

The ministry said the militant Shi'ite group, Hezbollah, had won in the southern suburbs and shanty towns of the capital, Beirut, while right-wing Christian groups had secured victory in other parts of the populous Mount Lebanon area.

Newspapers also say the pro-Iranian Hizbollah has beaten an alliance of its rival Syrian-backed Shiite Amal Movement and candidates backed by Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon but its presence is resented by many ordinary voters.

The right-wing Christian opposition groups were reported to have won a significant number of municipal and mayoral seats in the polls.

It is their first entry into the election arena since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 sectarian civil war. They boycotted parliamentary elections in 1992 and 1996.

The interior ministry said turnout was 70%.

Security was tight for the polls, which will be held in stages until mid-June.

Armoured personnel carriers were stationed at key intersections and troops stood outside polling stations.

The army detained 14 people in connection with minor skirmishes linked to the polls.

About 650,000 people were eligible to vote in the Mount Lebanon province.
 

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