BEIRUT (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter and other international monitors urged the Lebanese to vote peacefully in Sunday's crucial parliamentary election and to accept the results.
Carter, leading a team of monitors from a foundation he heads, told journalists on Friday the vote should be made "honestly and peacefully."
"One thing I hope to see is for everyone to accept the results of the people's will," he added.
In addition to the Carter Centre, observers from the European Union and the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) are among 250 foreigners in Lebanon to monitor the vote.
"We are encouraged that the Lebanese citizens are going to participate in the vote and hope that polling day and the day after will pass in a very calm way," said EU chief observer Jose Ignacio Salafranca Sanchez-Neyra.
"We hope that they are going to accept the election results and use the proper channels for any dispute," he added.
Robin Carnahan, an NDI member and senior official from the US state of Missouri, urged people "to get out and do your part. Get your voice heard."
According to Richard Chambers of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) there is concern that fistfights could erupt between supporters of rival factions on election day
"Because competition is so intense going into election day ... the greatest concern is that people are so enthusiastic at the chance of winning that they might lose their self-control and there might be hand-to-hand fighting."
The election pits pro-Western factions against an alliance led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the authorities are deploying 50,000 police and troops to keep the peace.
The rival factions came to the brink of a new civil war in May 2008 when Hezbollah clashed violently with pro-majority supporters in the capital and briefly seized mostly Sunni areas of Beirut.
Pollsters predict a very tight race for the 128-member parliament, with the winner clinching victory by just two or three seats.
A total of 587 candidates have registered for the election, for which there are 3.2 million eligible voters.
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