Lebanon Votes in Election Dominated by Regional Tensions

BEIRUT—Lebanese headed to the polls Sunday to choose a new government in the country’s first election in nearly a decade, a vote that has become a proxy contest between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The capital was flooded with campaign posters and slogans, and security forces patrolled across the city amid heightened security measures. After a calm morning, the interior ministry said turnout across the country had reached 24% at 2 p.m. local time.

With the election unfolding in the shadow of a war in neighboring Syria, regional tensions have eclipsed debate about policy in Lebanon. The main candidates have cast themselves as loyal to either Riyadh or Tehran, which are vying for greater influence in the region.

Saudi Arabia supports the incumbent prime minister, Saad Hariri, and his Future Movement party, while Iran backs Hezbollah, a political group that also fights in Syria in the form of a militia. The Future Movement and Hezbollah are part of Lebanon’s current coalition government that was formed after years of political impasse.

Western countries, which see the rare Arab democracy as a bastion against Iranian power, have pledged billions of dollars in soft loans to Mr. Hariri’s government in recent weeks to provide a counterbalance to Hezbollah.

“Let me be clear: Beirut will not become Damascus, or San’a or Baghdad,” Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, a member of Mr. Hariri’s party, said when meeting voters in the capital last week, referring to regional capitals under the influence of Iran.