The first signs of democratic life are returning to Lebanon following the municipal elections that have been held in May 2016. During a time of political crisis which is partly caused by the spill-over from Syria’s civil war, Lebanon has been suffering from a Presidential vacancy since 2014 and multiple postponements of Parliamentary elections since May 2013 until at least June 2017. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Interior, 5,976 candidates were running for seats in 273 municipal councils and 1,553 candidates ran for 740 mayoral seats. The municipal elections were organized for four weeks in May with the last one ending on the 29th of May in the North Lebanon and Akkar regions. The results of the elections will be posted as soon as they are made available.

The country’s political scene know a great divide between the predominantly Shia bloc led by Hizbollah and backed by Iran and Syria and the Sunni bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. While Hariri’s Future Movement (officially a secular party) usually dominates elections in the capital Beirut, last year has seen a change in the emergence of civil society groups that have organized through the political crisis into the Beirut Madinati party.

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Click here, for the most recent UN Security Council Press statement of 24 May 2016 on the Lebanese Presidential vacancy.