Landslide Win for Hizbullah in E. Lebanon

ACCORDING to results announced yesterday, the fundamentalist Hizbullah won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections for eastern Lebanon.

The outgoing parliament struggled to reach a quorum to discuss the worsening crisis sparked by fierce Christian opposition to the polls and by the resignation of Speaker Hussein al-Husseini, who charged that the voting had been rigged.

Many deputies said they wanted to challenge the decision of Prime Minister Rashid Solh of the Syrian-backed government to press on with the elections. The move by Christians to block elections before a Syrian troop pullout plunged the country into its worst political crisis since the civil war ended in 1990. The Syrian pullout is expected in September.

Hizbullah's landslide win means the militant group will enter parliament for the first time in its history. The group was widely believed to control groups that kidnapped Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s.

Mr. Husseini resigned on Monday after initial results showed Hizbullah well ahead.