Saad al-Hariri(R), son of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, leaves a polling station in Beirut May 29, 2005. Lebanon polling stations in Beirut opened Sunday morning to start the first round of the first parliamentary elections with no Syrian military presence(Xinhua/AFP photo)

Ayman al-Hariri, son of the slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, votes at a polling station in Beirut May 29, 2005.  (Xinhua/AFP photo)

Nazek al-Hariri (L), widow of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, votes at a polling station in Beirut May 29, 2005. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    BEIRUT, May 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Lebanon polling stations in Beirut opened Sunday morning to start the first round of the first parliamentary elections with no Syrian military presence.

    The voting began at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT). Over 420,000 eligible voters are expected to cast their ballots to choose 19 representatives in the 128-seat parliament.

    Being the first ballot in Lebanon after Syria withdrew its troops after a 29-year presence, it will be held on four
consecutive Sundays until June 19 in different constituencies across the country.

    The son of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Saad al-Hariri, 35, is widely anticipated to win a landslide victory in the general elections.

    The elections are being held under international scrutiny with more than 100 foreign observers from the European Union and the United Nations present at the scene.

    Nineteen seats are up for competition in Beirut according to Lebanon's power-sharing political system, which will be allocated to six Sunni Muslims, three Armenian Orthodox, two Greek Orthodox, two Shiite Muslims, one Druze, one Maronite Catholic, one Armenian Catholic, one Greek Catholic, one Protestant and one for minorities.

    Only a handful of pro-Syrian leftists and Muslim militants are competing with Saad's Future bloc in mainly Sunni Beirut.

    Saad's lists has already secured nine seats by default and all other 10 seats are also expected to be clinched by the candidates of the Sunni Muslim leader's block for lack of challengers.

    Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party on behalf of Lebanon's Druze, has won by default a seat in the Shouf constituency southeast of Beirut, the Interior Ministry said Saturday in a statement.

    Jumblatt's close ally MP Marwan Hamade, member of the Democratic Bloc, also won a seat, the statement added.

    Concerned that the situation would make turnout in Beirut at a very low level, Saad on Saturday urged Beirut voters to turn out in droves in today's parliamentary polls.

    The Lebanese legislature's 128 seats, which will be shared equally by the Christian and Muslim communities, will serve a term of four years.

    Syria completed all troops withdrawal from its tiny neighbour on April 26 under intense international pressure and mass Lebanese protests following the assassination of Hariri on Feb. 14.

    The death of Hariri, a Sunni and the major architect of Lebanon's post-civil war reconstruction, also plunged Lebanon into a political crisis and forced the resignation of its pro-Syrian government. Enditem