The second round of Lebanon’s municipal and mukhtar elections ended peacefully on Sunday, with fierce electoral battles took place and a high turnout recorded.

The second round of Lebanon's municipal and mukhtar elections ended peacefully on Sunday, with fierce electoral battles took place and a high turnout recorded.

Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nouhad Machnouk, said the election day in Mount Lebanon was a democratic day par excellence.

He said that the turnout reached 56 percent, noting that 70 percent of the complaints were ordinary inquiries.

Machnouk added that the vote was an opportunity to salute all parties, dignitaries, and families for the proper conduct of elections.

The elections covered 325 municipalities amid heavy security measures that were taken by the security forces and the army. The polls were held in the main electoral districts of Baabda, Jbeil, Keserouan, Aley, Chouf, and Metn.

The Interior Ministry said that 45 municipalities had won uncontested.

In Beirut's southern suburb (Dahiyeh) a candidate list backed by an alliance of Hezbollah, Amal movement and the FPM, won all seats in Haret Hreik, Ghoubeiry and Burj al-Barajneh municipal councils, initial results showed early on Monday.

Preliminary results in Jounieh in Keseroun, the Maronite heartland, showed that a candidate list backed by the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Kataeb Party has won all seats of the town’s local council in a fierce battle against another list backed by the Lebanese Forces party (LF) and other allies.

In the southern Beirut suburb of Hadath in Baabda district, a candidate list  backed by the FPM, has also won all seats of the municipal council in the town, initial results indicated.

The FPM list ran against a rival ticket backed by the LF and the Kataeb party.

In Choueifat (Chouf district)a list backed by MP Tala Areslan won the municipal elections in the city, while in Jahiliyah (also in Chouf), a list backed by former minister Wiam Wahhab won the seats of the town's municipal council.

In Lasa and Almat in Jbeil, the list which is backed by Hezbollah won entirely won.

Meanwhile, in Shhim, Al-Mustaqbal party was dealt a blow with the list backed by this party took just seven seats in the town's municipal council out of 18.