The pro-Syrian Shiite alliance of Amal movement and Hezbollah won south Lebanon polls Sunday in the second round of the legislative elections, Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa announced Monday.

Sabaa gave the official results of the Sunday vote at a press conference, saying the alliance of Hezbollah and Amal had won, by a wide margin.

The alliance won Sunday 17 of the contested seats in the parliament, while the ticket had already been declared the winner of six other seats in the south where there were no challengers, he added.

On Sunday evening, Nabih Beri, parliament speaker and leader of the Amal movement, announced his coalition with Hezbollah swept south Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

The results demonstrated the confidence placed by the people of south Lebanon in the resistance front against Israel and their full backing in the face of current pressures and threats, Beri told reporters.

A concerned official revealed that the turnout for the two constituencies in south Lebanon is about 45 percent according to preliminary official estimates after the close of polling stations.

The second phase of Lebanon's parliamentary election began in south Lebanon on Sunday morning. There are a total of 665,385 eligible voters in the south's two constituencies.

Lebanon's four-phase legislative election started in Beirut on May 29, which the opposition party led by the son of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri claimed a sweeping victory by winning the capital's all 19 seats.

Source: Xinhua