INTERNATIONAL: Lebanese voted on Sunday (May 15) in the first parliamentary election since the country's economic collapse, with many saying they hoped to deal a blow to ruling politicians they blame for the crisis even if the odds of major change appear slim.

The election is seen as a test of whether the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies can keep their assembly majority amid soaring poverty and anger at parties in power.

On Sunday night, people fired in the air in South Lebanon's Sidon amid celebrations for candidates who preliminary results from electoral campaign machines showed they won.

Further south in Nabatiyeh, convoys for supporters of Hezbollah and Amal Movement roamed the streets and in Beirut, supporters of the Christian Lebanese Forces party filled the sky above them with fireworks.

Votes were still being counted early on Monday with unofficial results due in overnight.

Turnout was 41%, excluding 60 of 1,752 polling stations, according to interior ministry figures, suggesting lower participation than in 2018 when the figure was around 50%.