In preliminary results from Lebanon, Hezbollah allies suffer a setback

In Lebanon’s parliamentary election, Iran-backed Hezbollah was dealt a blow, with preliminary results showing losses for some of its oldest friends and the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces party claiming victory.

 

The final composition of the 128-member parliament has yet to be determined, since votes are still being tabulated. When Lebanon last voted in 2018, the heavily armed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah and its allies won a majority of 71 seats.

 

The upcoming election is Lebanon’s first since the country’s terrible economic collapse, which the World Bank blamed on ruling politicians following a massive port explosion in 2020 that wrecked Beirut.

 

According to Mark Daou’s campaign manager and a Hezbollah official, Hezbollah-allied Druze politician Talal Arslan, heir of one of Lebanon’s oldest political dynasties who was first elected in 1992, lost his seat to Mark Daou, a rookie campaigning on a reform agenda.

 

Initial results indicated victories for at least five other independents who ran on a platform of change and holding politicians accountable for Lebanon’s worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

 

The outcome of Sunni Muslim seats contested by allies and opponents of the Shi’ite movement will determine if Hezbollah and its allies can maintain their majority.

 

 

The Lebanese Forces (LF), which is fiercely opposed to Hezbollah, has announced gains that put it on track to overtake the Hezbollah-aligned Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) as the largest Christian party in parliament.

 

According to LF press office chief Antoinette Geagea, the party gained at least 20 seats, up from 15 in 2018.

 

According to Sayed Younes, the leader of the FPM’s electoral machine, the party had gained up to 16 seats, down from 18 in 2018.

 

Since its founder, President Michel Aoun, returned from exile in France in 2005, the FPM has been the largest Christian party in parliament. Aoun and the commander of the LF, Samir Geagea, were civil war foes.

 

The LF, which began as a militia during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, has frequently demanded that Hezbollah hand over its weapons.