Beirut: Lebanon’s interior minister has announced the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, showing gains by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its allies and losses by Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Western-aligned Future Movement.
Nouhad Machnouk announced the results late Monday, saying that they do not include the northern Akkar region, where counting is still underway.
Machnouk said “congratulations to all those who won in the elections,” adding that the new parliament will convene on May 20.
Hezbollah and its allies won more than a third of the 128 seats, giving them veto power. Hariri’s bloc lost a third of its seats, but he is likely to remain prime minister because of Lebanon’s sectarian political system.
The head of Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement says it has won at least 29 seats in parliamentary elections, making it the largest bloc in the assembly.
Gibran Bassil, who serves as foreign minister and heads Aoun’s party, told reporters on Monday that their bloc could end up having 30 seats. He said it would maintain its “strategic alliance” with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
The Free Patriotic Movement was the second largest in the outgoing parliament after Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s bloc, which had 32 seats but appears to have lost a third of them in Sunday’s elections.
Hariri is likely to remain in his post, but Hezbollah and its allies appear to have gained enough seats in the 128-member legislature to veto legislation.