own. this is deja vu news live from berlin lebanon goes to the polls for the first parliamentary election in nearly a decade security fears and a tug of war over election reform delayed voting for years now and unprecedented number of independent candidates are hoping to shake up lebanon split calista publishing and also coming up. the bundesliga has seen a plan not to make a day pact with drama with much to play for towards the top and bottom our sports correspondent will take us through the best of the action.

by michelle henery thanks for joining us voters in lebanon are heading to the polls to elect a new parliament today for the first time in almost ten years the voted been postponed several times due to the war in neighboring syria and the new electoral laws approved last year proportional representation will replace the previous winner takes all system the vote brings into focus the struggle for power in a country divided along sectarian lines among those hoping to make gains in the country is hezbollah the islamist political and militant group find that spy around which supports the syrian president bashar al assad here's a look at the patchwork of groups and religions vying for power in lebanon. the graves of lebanese hezbollah fighters who died in neighboring syria iran funded

parties militias are revered by many shiites in lebanon. in syria they fight alongside the troops of president bashar al assad an ally of iran. has ball or under it secretary general has son nasrallah is not only a military organization but also an influential political force it's represented in the lebanese parliament alongside other muslim and christian parties and it's part of the national unity government shiite and sunni muslims and christians are sharing power there lebanon is a diverse country almost twenty religious communities live here as dollars involvement in the war in syria is creating tension between them it undermines lebanon's policy of not interfering in other countries all parties agreed on the policy so as not to become entangled with the region's interest groups this country

of four million has taken in more than one million syrian refugees since then poverty and unemployment have risen sharply and growth has fallen to one percent down from eight percent before the syrian war in addition there are the hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the palestinian territories decades ago lebanon is formally at war with israel beirut demands the establishment of a palestinian state and the return of refugees as conditions for a peace agreement lebanon maintains close relations with israel's main critic iran mainly through has dollar. time and again the country has run the risk of being drawn into the regional power struggle between shiite iran and sunni saudi arabia despite its attempts to maintain good relations with all muslim states in the region. that was the case in two thousand and seventeen when prime minister hariri a sunni supported by saudi arabia suddenly announced his resignation jaring a visit to riyadh possibly under saudi pressure and according to his statement

fearing assassination by hizbollah but after mediation by france hariri returned to beirut and withdrew his resignation. it's unlikely much will change in lebanon after the elections whatever the outcome of the vote parliamentary seats and key political offices will continue to be divided proportion me among religious groups that means lebanon will remain a divided country. i'm joined now by a correspondent in beirut who's following today's vote for us thanks for joining us lebanon has started its first parliamentary elections in nearly nine years why has it taken the country so long to get to this stage. well there are several reasons but if you talk to the lebanese they say that's only because the ruling here wanted to keep the power they do extensions of the cabinet in the elections have not taken place to fourteen different reasons at different times remember after the civil war

ended according to type of agreement this power sharing agreement was a right that under which the president would be a christian the prime minister a sunni in the speaker. after that you've seen the syrians on lebanese territory under two thousand and five you've seen israeli invasions of levanon and then we've seen this war in syria and all of these have been courted as a reason by the lebanese by the ruling lebanese to sort of seek an extension having said that the lebanese also feel very proud of themselves they say that this is sort of a shining light in all the middle east where there are at least fighting to the other functional democracy and it's not much they do have certain expectations from these elections and it is because of sort of say the lebanese great that this country is seeing elections and i can tell you today there is much excitement on the streets eleven on and people are hoping that it will get a little bit some change should occur. to these voting so it sounds like it took so long the country because the country have been affected by political and sectarian problems but touching on that excitement that you mentioned more than seven hundred

thousand young people are eligible to vote in the country for the first time will their vote bring a change to the political system. well i believe they should but i've been talking to a lot of people for all of the month last month and the young people seem quite divided we don't really know how many of these. thousands of youngsters will actually go out there and vote most of them say that they do not think that would be change that the fear of the warlords will come back to power when they see warlords essentially mean the warlords of the civil war after the agreement was arrived on the century became politicians and continue to be in power so there is sort of this disappointment at a huge level but of course they do want to. there are a number of people you speak would say we would like changed to we want. our politics to be nonsectarian we do not want follow foreign policy to be meddling so those young souls are also going up toward an interesting phenomenon this election

is that representing people who want change in a civil society candidates and establishment candidates and many of them are fighting the largest coalition of such candidates it's called not what the neo all the one nation and defeated sixty six candidates i'll be they are have also fielded candidates based on. which suspect is a certain seat result for but they say that they are secular they see that they won't announce a date in country it remains to be those seen whether they are a city phenomenon one of a just a barrel phenomenon or whether she like. like tiffany they would score any seats at all. be a correspondent on show for a speaking to us from beirut now here are some other stories making news around the world a coal mine explosion has killed at least eighteen miners and injured several others in southwest pakistan rescue operations have been concluded according to authorities the blast was caused by a buildup of methane gas. a trench will flood

has swept through a district in the turkish capital ankara injuring six people the powerful water sent vehicles downstream through the streets dozens of homes and offices were also flooded authorities say crews have already started cleaning up the affected neighborhood. russian opposition leader alexina vonnie says he's been released from custody after being detained yesterday at an anti putin rally in moscow in a volley had called for a nationwide protest against president putin's inauguration for a fourth term as president on monday some one thousand six hundred activists were arrested in other demonstrations across the country. to bundesliga football now and i'm joined by tom de noise from our sports to us to talk us through the penultimate set of fixtures tom thanks for joining us it was a big day on saturday it was

a very big day as always with the last two match days of the bundesliga season all of the games kickoff saturday three. always makes for a very exciting watch now had a very big draw is the guarantee second place finish and i believe we're going to go and have a look now and see how they go on. child who is youngest ever coached on many desk has turned back the clock on his side's fortunes this season the royal blues on the verge of their highest league finish in eight years. but they were uncharacteristically sloppy at the start of this one almost gifting hour fifteen bogus and an early goal the icelandic strike aired tonight by the narrowest of margins. shall go away just as our expects defense fell asleep. as cross comes short was flicked invites yellow kara the defender left on martin oceans of space to back his second goal of the season. the tightness was clearly infectious chalco were again caught napping and this time

they were punished by the quick thinking philip max. parity lasted just seven minutes in bogus in the unfortunate man this carries had a rebounded off his star and into the net. and that was it for the goals outspoken marker rishta here were denied a second equaliser by the assistant referees flak. it looked to be the right decision. i shall call it is that from the back right now they held on to victory sealing second place and a spot in next season's champions league hit before for the fence for the support us and i'm very happy for for the team for each single player school with it's a lot for us today on the up and finishing above trifles dortmund's. so time shaka had a dreadful season last term but they seem to really bounce back and a lot of people are crediting their young and seemingly inexperienced coach but

what do you think about what is becoming something of a trend in german football at the moment i mean we saw hoffenheim last season with you again i was not threats at the club to their first ever champions league qualification also a young inexperienced coach and shout it's hard to replicate that success. today's goes down a very good job he really to ensure. his fortunes around the finished tenth last season that's way below their own ambitions their second this season they're back in the champions league and crucially as we heard at the end of that report they finished above bruce your dorm and that's why so popular wow and well you what about the bottom end of the table can you talk us through that of course. and freiburg all lost yesterday but minds who also deep deeply involved in this relegation battle they had a very tough fixture away at dortmund so let's take a look now and see how they go. some don't and fans look like they already had their minds on the beach but for the most part the yellow wall was as imposing as

ever for example shrugs and minds think alike to the last time out meant they could secure their safety with a win at signal a do not park and after just three minutes they took the laid back who scored on his debut last weekend and the midfielder repeated the trick here to make it one nil. the twenty year old clearly delighted to be his hometown club's hero again. and pay to show his day got even worse just nine minutes later when the public at last he sent in a teasing cross and you're sure nouri muchos glancing header found the corner of the net the japanese striker putting another season of top flight football within months his reach. but they weren't home and dry yet jaden century treats his way past daniel brzezinski and cross for maximillian philip who half the deficit he won with just fifteen minutes on the clock. that was enough excitement for meit's they shut up shop and reached half time with their lead intact after the break they dug

in defense kept dortmund's attack at bay one final chance did come home side's why in the ninetieth minute but marcel's mountains header was governed up by flocking at miller and with that mike says bundesliga status was site shots and his team have rescued themselves with two huge wins into eight a ten straight season in the top flight awaits. so timelines are safe what if they don't differently it's other teams that were also in trouble very recently they've won i mean they've taken six points from games against dortmund and lights you know there's a really big opponents those are really games that might have a right to win but they set themselves up well for going in with the right attitude performed and taken the points and secure their own safety it's also worth mentioning of course that they've stuck with center shots now similarly with not was not and today he's a fairly inexperienced coach. but they've placed their faith in him and they've been repaid and this trend in german football looks like it's still picking up

steam wow ok and we are set for a really exciting last day of the season aren't may yet we certainly are but if we can have a quick look at the table now we can see that. call of qualification for the champions league has already been secured but the other place is the women's health . and lots of go competing for the top two spots for the part of me the father of the champions league sports. and if we take a look down at the bottom of the table as we just saw mines of course have just secured their own safety both freiburg spoke how borg still all in trouble so they're going to be hoping for a last minute escape in the final match the next weekend about how you feeling about that now by the stuff. no three are in from sports thank you so much for joining us thank you. you're watching d.w. news we'll be back at the top of the hour in the meantime for all the latest news and headlines video visit our website that's it d

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