Hezbollah and allies lose majority in Lebanese parliament, final results show

Hezbollah opponents including the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces - a Christian faction - gained ground.

Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies have lost their majority in Lebanon's parliament in a general election, a Reuters tally of final results showed on Tuesday, a major blow to the heavily armed group that reflects anger with Lebanon's ruling elite.

The Shi'ite Muslim movement and factions that support its possession of arms won around 62 of parliament's 128 seats in Sunday's election, a reversal of the 2018 result when they secured a majority of 71.

In the first election since Lebanon's economic collapse and the Beirut port explosion of 2020, reform-minded political newcomers won about a dozen seats, making an unexpectedly strong breakthrough into a system long dominated by the same groups.

Hezbollah opponents including the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces - a Christian faction - gained ground. It claimed to have overtaken the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) as Lebanon's biggest single Christian party.

The results leave parliament split into several camps, none of which have a majority, raising the prospect of political paralysis and tensions that could delay reforms needed to steer the country out of its devastating economic crisis.

While the 2018 election pulled Lebanon closer into the orbit of Shi'ite Muslim-led Iran, these results could open the way for Saudi Arabia to reassert influence in a country that has long been an arena for its regional rivalry with Tehran.

The final results on Tuesday included a record of eight women lawmakers - nearly half of them newcomers.