Voters in Mount Lebanon headed to polling stations on Sunday to elect municipal council members for six-year terms, nearly 60 percent voted in the elections, Xinhua reported.
According to official numbers, almost 800,000 Lebanese were electing municipal councils, mukhtars, or mayors in the first of four-stage municipal elections in Mount Lebanon area that overlooking the capital.
The three remaining stages of voting will be held during May. Voting in capital Beirut and the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country will be held on May 9, while voting in South Lebanon will be held on May 23, and a week later in north Lebanon.
Out of a total of 313 municipalities, 57 councils were not being contested as compromised lists have been agreed amid a political calm in Lebanon since a national unity government was formed last November.
Minister of Interior Ziad Baroud announced at the end of the voting day, which kicked off Sunday, that voters turnout in Mount Lebanon area as a whole reached 59 percent.
"A voter turnout of 59 percent is a high rate, which was not expected earlier during the day," he added, saying that some criticisms were reported, the complaints were ordinary.
Municipal elections in Lebanon are held every six years.
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