Hezbollah and its allies sought to unseat a pro-Western coalition in Lebanese elections Sunday that could present an early test of President Barack Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace.
A win by the Shiite militant group would boost the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risk pushing one of the region's most volatile nations into international isolation and possibly into more conflict with Israel.
The race for the 128-member parliament is the first major event in the Middle East since Obama reached out to the Arab and Islamic worlds last week in his speech in Cairo in which he called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims." Obama challenged Muslims to confront violent extremism across the globe and urged Israel and the Palestinians along with Arab states to find common ground on which to forge peace.
Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, has been one of the staunchest opponents of U.S. policy in the Middle East and a sworn enemy of Israel. It fought the Jewish state in southern Lebanon in 2006 in a devastating war and has tried to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza through Egypt.
Some of those voting for Hezbollah and its allies Sunday said they were turning to the group out of a frustration with perceived corruption and other failures among the current governing coalition.
"I voted for reform and change," said Laure Khoury, a 32-year-old schoolteacher, after casting a ballot for Hezbollah's Christian allies in the Byblos district north of Beirut. "We tried the others for four years and we got nothing but promises and corruption. Enough is enough," the Christian woman said.
Teacher Ali Ibrahim, a 23-year-old Shiite schoolteacher, said he also was turning away from the current leadership and voting for Hezbollah to "give the other side a chance to rescue the country."
Obama's speech did not resonate in the election campaign. But warnings by the United States that it could reconsider aid depending on the election's outcome have sparked Hezbollah accusations of U.S. interference. The U.S. has given around $1 billion to Lebanon's pro-Western government since 2006.
In his Cairo speech, Obama said the United States "will welcome elected, peaceful governments, provided they govern with respect for all their people."
Former President Jimmy Carter, in Beirut to monitor the elections, expressed hope that the United States, Iran and other countries will recognize the results "and not try to interfere in the process."
Hezbollah's coalition includes the Shiite movement Amal and a major Christian faction led by former army chief Michel Aoun. Opposing it are the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim supporters of current majority leader Saad Hariri, allied with several Christian and Druse factions.
Hezbollah tried to strike a moderate tone in the election campaign and promised to invite its pro-Western opponents to join a national unity government if it wins.
That proposal shows Hezbollah's concern over a possible punishing international backlash if it tries to govern Lebanon outright _ as happened when the Iranian-backed Hamas won 2006 Palestinian elections. Hezbollah itself is only fielding 11 candidates, and must work with its various political allies.
The group's Christian allies argue that involving Hezbollah more deeply in the political process _ rather than shunning it _ is the only way to bridge the country's sectarian divides.
Their opponents counter that the heavily armed Hezbollah would be driving Lebanon into the arms of Iran, which could use it as a front in the Islamic republic's confrontation with Israel.
In Israel, government officials were closely watching the vote, concerned about gains by Hezbollah.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said last week a victory by Hezbollah would be "very dangerous for the stability of the Middle East, and by that, the stability of the entire world."
Tsilla Herscho, a lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv, said Sunday a Hezbollah victory would spell trouble for Israel.
"It will mean a very strong Iranian presence on the border and then Israel will be stuck between Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north," she said.
The race is too close to call.
In the outgoing parliament, the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats and Hezbollah's alliance had 58.
There are some 3.2 million eligible voters out of a population of 4 million, and the interior minister said after polls closed that the turnout nationwide was about 52.3 percent, an increase over the 2005 figure of 45.8 percent. Early unofficial returns were expected late Sunday and official results as early as Monday afternoon.
The voting was largely peaceful, with complaints of long waits at polling stations from voters, many of whom had to travel across the country to cast their ballots. Army troops in armored personnel carriers and trucks took up positions on major highways, part of a 50,000-strong security force deployed for voting day.
President Michel Suleiman, among the early voters, cast his ballot in his hometown of Amchit on the coast north of Beirut. He set the political tone for the post-election period irrespective of who wins, hoping for a national unity government, a prospect both sides have already raised.
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Associated Press Writer Ian Deitch contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
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