Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Lebanon's Hezbollah, allies likely to lose parliamentary majority

Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies are likely to lose their majority in Lebanon's parliament, three sources allied to the group said on Monday, in a major blow to the heavily armed faction that reflected widespread anger at ruling parties.

Sunday's election - the first since Lebanon's financial collapse and the Beirut port blast of 2020 - also produced wins for the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party, and reform-minded candidates across sects.

Their breakthroughs, however, could fracture parliament into several camps and polarize it more sharply between Hezbollah's allies and opponents. Those opponents are not currently united into a single bloc.



The deadlock could derail reforms required to unlock support from the International Monetary Fund to ease Lebanon's economic crisis and delay parliamentary decisions on a speaker, a premier to form a Cabinet, and a new president later this year.

Preliminary results indicate a reversal of Lebanon's last election in 2018, when Hezbollah and its allies won 71 of parliament's 128 seats, pulling Lebanon deeper into the orbit of Shi'ite-led Iran and away from Sunni-led Saudi Arabia. READ MORE