Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah
Lebanon’s Hizbollah paramilitary movement emerged as the main victor in the country’s first election in almost a decade, securing veto power in the Lebanese Parliament as the prime minister’s fortunes fell.
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Iran-backed Hizbollah and its parliamentary allies won more than a third of the 128 seats, which would leave them as a dominant force in the Lebanese legislature.
The party of Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri lost a third of its seats, although he was expected to retain his position. Machnouk said a final breakdown of the nationwide results would be released later.
The vote – the first of its kind in nine years – had been hotly anticipated. Television stations aired extensive coverage, and billboards of the candidates’ faces loomed high above the streets of Beirut.
