Lebanon Postpones Elections for Two Years Amid Escalating Regional Tensions
Lebanon’s parliament on Monday announced the postponement of legislative elections for two years due to ongoing war between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, according to AFP.
Lebanon became involved in the Middle East conflict last week after Hezbollah, the Iran‑backed militant group based in Lebanon, launched strikes on Israel.
These strikes were a response to the joint US-Israel attacks that targeted Tehran and killed the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has been responding with a retaliatory counterattack in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi as a retaliatory move, while launching barrages of missiles and drones toward Israel.
“Parliament approved a two‑year extension of its term,” the office of Parliament Speaker and key Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said, after elections were primarily scheduled for May.
Lebanon has a history of delaying elections. Between 2013 and 2014, it postponed polls twice over deep political divisions linked to the Syrian War.
For a third time in 2017, Lebanon delayed elections due to several disputes concerning the electoral law.
Hezbollah and its allies lost their parliamentary majority in the 2022 elections to traditional rivals and independents from Lebanon’s 2019 protest movement.
However, the parliament remains sharply divided between the two camps.
The decision to postpone the elections came as the Lebanese government pledged to disarm Hezbollah, a step firmly opposed by the group that attempts to regain political ground after suffering major setbacks in confrontations with Israel.
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