BINT JBEIL, Lebanon ? Hezbollah and its Shiite allies claimed victory in southern Lebanon in Sunday’s second stage of national elections, a vote the militant group hopes will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the United States.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters drove through the streets of Beirut waving the group’s yellow flag in celebration. In Beirut’s predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, fireworks lit the sky.

Four hours after polling stations closed, Hezbollah and its ally the Shiite Muslim Amal movement claimed they had won all 23 seats in the region bordering Israel. Official results were not due before midday today.

“It has become clear that all members of the Resistance, Liberation and Development Ticket have won in (southern Lebanon’s) two regions,” said Sheik Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader. “The south has declared through this vote its clear stance in supporting this track.”

The elections, which are scheduled for two more Sundays in other regions, follow the assassination last week of an anti-Syrian journalist and continuing calls by the opposition for President Emile Lahoud’s resignation. The anti-Syrian opposition hopes the elections will end Damascus’ control of the legislature.

The United States, which labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization, wants the guerrilla group to abandon its weapons in line with last year’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, a position backed by Lebanese authorities.

Voter turnout was heavy in Shiite areas and lower in Christian and Sunni Muslim districts, according to preliminary estimates by candidates’ campaigns and local television stations. Amal and Hezbollah campaigners estimated turnout at about 45 percent.

One reason for the lack of interest by some of the 665,000 eligible voters is that six of the 23 seats were uncontested.

Those citizens who did vote expressed strong support for Hezbollah, the guerrilla group that fought Israel during an 18-year occupation. Israel occupied south Lebanon from 1982-2000.

“We should show our support for the resistance and those who were martyred for the sake of liberating this country,” a smiling Kamel Hamka, 77, said as he walked out of a polling station in Bint Jbeil, a Shiite town a few miles from the Israeli border.