BEIRUT — Shiite group
Hezbollah and its allies lost their
majority in Lebanon’s parliament, official results showed Tuesday, while
independents achieved a surprise breakthrough.
اضافة اعلان
Full results announced by the interior ministry two
days after the election revealed that no bloc will control the 128-seat
assembly, a deadlock observers fear could usher in a tense period of political
jostling.
The polls, the first since
Lebanon was ravaged by
its worst-ever economic crisis and a cataclysmic explosion at Beirut port in
2020, were seen as a prerequisite for a crucial IMF bailout.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its main allies had
the support of around 70 lawmakers in the outgoing parliament but will now fall
just short of the 65 seats needed to retain a majority.
Their strongest opponents in parliament will be led
by the Christian Lebanese Forces party of former warlord Samir Geagea, that
raked in several new seats on the back of a virulent anti-Hezbollah campaign.
New reformist faces who entered the legislative race
on the values of a 2019 anti-establishment uprising made a stronger showing
than many had predicted.
At least 13 independents who backed the 2019 protest
movement won seats. Twelve of them will sit in parliament for the first time.
Together with other non-aligned MPs who have
sometimes supported the now-defunct protest movement’s demands, they could find
themselves in a king-making position but they would need the kind of unity they
failed to achieve during the campaign.
Analyst
Ziad Majed said that the economic context
could play in favor of reformists who will for the first time be pushing from
within parliament, not just as outsiders.
“This will create political and popular pressure for
reformists and forces of change to cooperate,” he said.
Only eight women were voted into parliament.
One of the most notable victories notched up by
independents was the election in southern Lebanon of Elias Jradeh and Firas
Hamdan for seats that Hezbollah and its allies had not lost in three decades.
Another major satisfaction for those described in
Lebanon as the “thawra” (revolution, in Arabic) candidates, was the defeat of
several reviled MPs loyal to the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
In what was interpreted by independents as a gesture
of spite by Hezbollah, a group of youths on scooters descended on Martyrs
Square overnight and burned down the “revolution fist”.
The temporary monument had become a visual symbol of
the secular protests that swept Lebanon in October 2019 and had raised hopes of
democratic change.
The movement lost momentum as Lebanon’s ruling
cartel of sectarian political barons bided their time and one of the sharpest
economic downturns of our time muffled popular discontent.
The parliamentary elections were the first major
test for those in the protest camp who chose to enter the political fray.
Hezbollah and its ally
Amal retained all 27
parliament seats reserved for Shiite lawmakers but the Christian bloc led by
President Michel Aoun and other coalition partners lost a little ground.
The main issue that polarizes parliament is
Hezbollah’s right to keep an arsenal that is often described as equivalent to
or better than the state’s.
Some see it as a historical right and the best
defense for the small Mediterranean country while others consider Hezbollah’s
weapons to be the root of all of Lebanon’s ills.
The formation of a government, the election of
parliament’s speaker, and the presidential election could all be very
contentious and lead to protracted political crises.
Speaker
Nabih Berri has held his job since 1992.
President Michel Aoun, the world’s third oldest head
of state, had long planned for his son-in-law
Gebran Bassil to take over but
the Lebanese Forces’ surge in the polls could disrupt that scenario.
Lebanon shares power among its religious
communities, and politics is often treated as a family business. By convention,
the president is a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunni Muslim, and the
parliamentary speaker a Shiite.
Despite a turnout of 41 percent on Sunday, the UN
envoy to Lebanon said “the elections were a vital expression of Lebanon’s
citizen engagement, which should serve to strengthen the country’s
institutions.”
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