Lebanon postpones parliamentary elections by two years

Lebanon’s parliament on Monday (March 9, 2026) postponed legislative elections by two years, according to a statement from the parliament speaker, due to the war between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during U.S.-Israeli strikes.

“Parliament approved the extension of its term for two years,” a statement from parliament speaker and key Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri read, after the polls were initially due to be held in May.

MPs convened even as Israeli warplanes flew above the nearby southern suburbs of Beirut.

Several lawmakers of Hezbollah’s 13-member bloc were present, including its head Mohammed Raad, an AFP photographer saw.

Lebanon has postponed elections on several occasions in the past.

It did so twice between 2013 and 2014, citing political divisions in Lebanon stemming from the war in neighbouring Syria, and a third time in 2017 due to a dispute over the electoral law.

During the last election in 2022, Hezbollah and its allies lost their parliamentary majority against traditional opponents and independent candidates born out of Lebanon’s 2019 protest movement.

Parliament remains heavily divided between the two camps.

Before the outbreak of the latest war between Hezbollah and Israel, political forces hostile to the group, with American encouragement, sought the postponement of parliamentary elections, a diplomatic source said at the time.

The move to delay the polls came as the Lebanese government also committed to disarming Hezbollah.

It was opposed by the group as it sought to reassert its political presence after the major losses it suffered against Israel.