Hezbollah allies gain in Lebanon vote

BEIRUT: Hezbollah and its political allies won just over half the seats in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, unofficial results showed.

The Hezbollah group was poised to seal its dominance of Lebanese politics on Monday as its main foe Prime Minister Saad Hariri conceded heavy losses in the general election.

The polls were also marked by a low turnout of 49.2 per cent and the emergence of a civil society movement which is challenging Lebanon’s oligarchs and was set to break into parliament for the first time.

The number of Hezbollah lawmakers in the 128-seat parliament may not increase but astute preelectoral tactics have secured it enough allies to withstand political challenges on strategic issues.

It will also benefit from the fragmentation of its foes, among them Hariri whose Future Movement could go down as the election’s biggest loser.

Before the results were officially announced, Hariri told reporters his party had won 21 seats, a drop from the 33 it controlled in the outgoing legislature.

“We were betting on a better result,” admitted Hariri, whose party nonetheless remains one of the largest in parliament.

“Hariri’s loss will be the distinguishing mark of these elections, which will have consequences on the battle to form a new government,” the pro-hezbollah Al Akhbar daily wrote earlier on Monday.

Hezbollah is a key political player in Lebanon where it has allied with the Christian party of President Michel Aoun and has participated in Hariri’s government since December 2016.

Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk announced the turnout figure at a news conference shortly after midnight and appeared to blame it on the new electoral law agreed last year.

“This is a new law and voters were not familiar with it, nor were the heads of polling stations,” he said. “Voting operations were very slow.”

As provisional estimates trickled in, some candidates’ supporters started celebrating in the streets after a polling operation marred only by a few violations but no major incident.

Lawmakers had extended their own mandate three times since 2009, ostensibly over security concerns linked to the war in neighbouring Syria and political divisions that led to long and crippling institutional crises.

A higher turnout had been expected after the long electoral hiatus.