Hezbollah allies set for gains in Lebanon parliament: Prelim results

The Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah and its political allies looked set to win more than half the seats in Lebanon’s first parliamentary election in nine years, according to preliminary results cited by politicians and Lebanese media.

The result, if confirmed by the final count, would boost Hezbollah politically, with parties and individuals aligned with the heavily armed group securing a simple majority in parliament in Sunday’s election.

Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist group by the United States and an enemy of neighbouring Israel which has fought numerous wars with the group since it was founded in 1982.

The unofficial results also indicated that Western-backed Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri would emerge as the Sunni leader with the biggest bloc in the 128-seat parliament, making him the frontrunner to form the next government, though he lost seats.

Lebanon’s prime minister must be a Sunni according to the country’s sectarian power-sharing system.

The election was held under a complex new law that redrew constituency boundaries and changed the electoral system from winner-takes-all to a proportional one. The interior minister said official results would be declared on Monday morning.

The staunchly anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces, a Christian party, appears to have emerged as a big winner, nearly doubling its MPs …read more