Pro-Hezbollah bloc loses Lebanese parliamentary majority | News

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Hezbollah allies lose seats in parliamentary elections to rivals, as independent candidates make inroads.

Beirut, Lebanon – Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies have lost their majority in Lebanon’s parliament after the country’s general elections were announced.

The Shia party’s allies suffered losses across the country, according to results released by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday.

The Free Patriotic Movement, a Hezbollah ally, is no longer the country’s largest Christian parliamentary bloc, winning 18 seats in Sunday’s elections, compared to 20 for its United States and Saudi-backed rival the Lebanese Forces.

Other key Hezbollah allies, such as Druze leader Talal Arslan in Aley, and Sunni leader Faysal Karame in Tripoli, also lost their seats to anti-establishment candidates.

Additionally, two Hezbollah-backed candidates in the movement’s electoral strongholds in southern Lebanon lost to anti-establishment candidates.

All in all, 16 anti-establishment independent candidates broke into parliament, a 15-seat increase compared to the 2018 elections.

Nine other candidates running on platforms critical of the status quo and the dominant political parties were also elected, among them billionaire businessman Fouad Makhzoumi, and four candidates of the once-influential Christian Kataeb Party.