Explained | Hezbollah and the 2022 Lebanese general elections 

This is Lebanon’s first election since 2018 after which it plunged into an economic crisis, besides witnessing a massive explosion at the Beirut port in 2020 that killed 200 people

The story so far: Final results of the Lebanese national election released on Tuesday, May 17, showed that the political wing of the Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah and its allies lost their majority in Lebanon’s parliament.

Hezbollah, along with supporting political factions won 62 of the parliament’s 128 seats, as opposed to a majority of 71 seats they had secured in the last election held in 2018. Hezbollah’s opponents, including the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces—a Christian faction—gained ground in this election.

In a major development, political newcomers—the anti-establishment candidates who had gained prominence in the October 2019 popular movement against the government—managed to win over a dozen seats this election in comparison with just one seat in the previous one.

Lebanon is a country in the eastern Mediterranean, with Israel bordering its south and Syria on its northern and eastern border. It has a 1.5-million refugee population from Syria, besides a permanent Palestinian presence.

It got its independence from the French mandate in 1943, but there was dissatisfaction as the Maronite Christian community had achieved more development during the French rule in contrast with the Muslim sects. The country’s new leaders signed a national pact to divide power among major religious groups.

However, Lebanon’s independent government was unable to govern the different religious groups, leading to the formation of religious militias. Besides, the country had a huge population of Palestinian refugees in camps, which also housed fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The religious groups were again divided on the Palestinian presence, with Christian ones against it and the leftists and Muslims ones in support. The religious factions descended into fierce fighting, leading to the Lebanese civil war in 1975 that lasted till 1990. Meanwhile in 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon to drive out the PLO and counter the large Syrian military presence. The war also brought in Western involvement, including from the United States; the United Nations also sent forces to Lebanon.

The war ended with the signing of the Taif Agreement in Saudi Arabia, which was meant to facilitate the sovereignty of South Lebanon by the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the placement of Lebanon under Syria’s guardianship. The Accord also ordered the disbandment of all militias that were formed during the war except for the Hezbollah. According to Lebanon’s post-civil war Constitution, the country’s President would be a Maronite Christian, Prime Minister a Sunni and Parliament Speaker, Shia. The Druze religious community in Lebanon also has a small share in power.