Lebanese media say the Iran-backed Hezbollah group appears to have made gains in the parliamentary elections held on Sunday while the Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Future Movement party has sustained losses.

Preliminary and unofficial results, which are more or less expected to match the official count, show that Sunni voters are losing faith in Hariri's party amid a stagnant economy and general exasperation over the civil war in neighboring Syria which has brought 1 million refugees to Lebanon.

Hariri, a Sunni politician with close ties to Saudi Arabia, has so far lost five seats in Beirut, once considered a stronghold for his party.

Hezbollah and its allies appear set to take at least 47 seats in the 128-seat parliament, which would enable them to veto any laws it opposes.