Lebanon faces a political impasse three months after an election produced a parliament tilted in favor of the Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah, with no sign of compromises needed to form a unity government.
Negotiations have run into a knot of complications, notably how Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri can form a government that reflects the result while satisfying Western and Gulf Arab concerns over Hezbollah influence.
One senior politician said talks were in a state of “stagnation”. A senior official from another party said there was no indication of compromises and forecast a period of “meaningless movement”.
The heavily armed Hezbollah, with allied parties and independents, won more than 70 of parliament’s 128 seats in the May 6 election, a reversal of Lebanon’s 2009 vote when groups with Western and Saudi support scored a majority.
Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States, called it a victory for the “choice of the resistance” - a reference to the arsenal it has used in conflicts with Israel and more recently in neighboring Syria’s war.
Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani later put it more bluntly, saying Hezbollah had won.
The result has spawned new complications for Lebanon’s tangled sectarian politics - long an arena for regional and international struggles played out through local allies.
Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims are all jostling for ministries. Additionally, the Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah aims to move beyond its traditional backseat role in the next cabinet.
It wants three instead of two seats in this cabinet, and more influential ministries than it has previously held, to include public service providers.
With the group being targeted as part of a U.S. campaign against Iran, wider Hezbollah influence could raise questions about Western aid to a country that hosts around 1 million registered Syrian refugees.
U.S. support for Lebanon’s army could also be in doubt.
Firas Maksad, director of The Arabia Foundation think tank in Washington, said the election had created a conundrum.
“You have election result that produced a more positive outcome for Hezbollah and its allies. These results need to be taken into consideration as the government is being put together,” he said.
But “trying to form a government that would prove unwelcome in Riyadh, let alone Washington ... would come at a potentially steep cost for the country. Hariri is taking his time, and in many ways he is stuck.”
The “worst time” for a delay
Lebanon is used to lengthy cabinet negotiations. But the Western-backed Hariri and others gave reason to hope this time would be different because of a difficult economic situation. Politicians have warned of economic crisis.
The IMF wants to see immediate and substantial fiscal adjustment to improve the sustainability of Lebanon’s public debt, which stood at over 150 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2017. A Paris donors conference in April yielded pledges of billions, conditional on reform.
The next government will also have to address relations with Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is well on top in the seven-and-a-half-year-old civil war there. His Lebanese allies, led by Hezbollah, want full ties restored.
Political commentator Rajeh Khoury said it was “difficult to see a government in the foreseeable period, unless some strange surprise occurs”. Citing the economy, he said that the delay had come “at the worst time”.
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