Competition Heats up ahead of Mount Lebanon's Municipal Polls

The second round of Lebanon's municipal elections are set to kick off in Mount Lebanon on Sunday following mostly successful polls held a week earlier in the capital Beirut and in the Bekaa and Baalbek-al-Hermel district.

The elections are the first vote of any kind in Lebanon since the last municipal polls in 2010.

The rivalry for the municipal and mayoral positions in Mount Lebanon is said to be tough mainly in the town of Jounieh where reports have described it as the “mother of all battles.”

The battle is said to be tough as well in Beirut's southern suburb of al-Ghobeiry and Hadath and in the town of Sin el-Fil.

Several candidates competing for the municipal and mayoral position have declared earlier uncontested victory in several towns and villages around Lebanon.

The media office of Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said in a statement that the 834,768 voters are to head to the polling stations on Sunday in Mount Lebanon's six districts of Baabda, Jbeil, Keserwan, Aley, Chouf and Metn.

Elections in South Lebanon and Nabatieh are set on May 22, and in the North, including Akkar, on May 29.