In form, the ruling majority lost its influence over the national arena as soon as it failed to "abort" the electoral entitlement through a series of desperate attempts to avoid revealing any image that reflects the decline in the popularity of the ruling parties, especially among the Christian base amidst widespread resentment towards the term and its current trajectory. The preliminary results eventually determined the "sizes" battle in a way that diminishes the Christian cover for "Hezbollah" and the axis of resistance, after the "Lebanese Forces" emerged at the forefront of Christian representation at the expense of the "Free Patriotic Movement," as confirmed by the leader of the "Forces," Samir Geagea. In contrast, MP Jibran Bassil's night speech resembled an "admission of defeat," accusing the "Forces" of becoming "the number one party thanks to election funds."
In essence, voter turnout did not meet the aspirations for the desired change, recording a participation rate of nearly 42% across the national map, down approximately 8% from 49.7% in the previous election cycle of 2018. This resulted in a "mixture of results" distributing seats among winning candidates from various lists. The near-final tally revealed that opposition, change, and revolutionary forces made significant inroads that struck at the heart of power and shook the grip of the Shiite duo in some southern and Bekaa districts. Meanwhile, the Sunni vote reflected the fragmentation and weakening of the community without the boycott calls making a pivotal impact on the electoral process.
Throughout the long election day coverage, numerous violations, acts of intimidation, and bullying emerged at several polling stations under the scrutiny of the "LADY" Association and election monitoring missions. Issues were reported in some districts between representatives of "Hezbollah" and the "Lebanese Forces," destruction of opposition campaign tents and chairs, as well as the "beating and dragging" of one representative after insults directed at the President in Haret Hreik. Additionally, representatives of the list headed by Sheikh Abbas Al-Johari were expelled from the polling area in the town of Al-Kaniseh in the Baalbek district, while in Kfarhouneh in the Jezzine district, "Forces" representatives were attacked, resulting in injuries to two of them requiring hospitalization.
In response, a media spat erupted between "Hezbollah" and the "Lebanese Forces," where "Hezbollah" tried to disassociate itself from the responsibility for attacking "Forces" representatives in the Bekaa, denying any link of its apparatus and representatives to the incidents. The media department of the "Forces" quickly countered with a series of "eyewitness accounts and testimonies from people, visible on television, confirming that 'Hezbollah' practiced intimidation from two directions: assaulting the representatives on one side, and scaring people from voting on the other."
On the official level, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi boasted about the success of the electoral entitlement, with Mikati stating that "the elections passed with a minimum of flaws and we emerged with a great victory for the Lebanese state and citizens," expressing hope that the electoral results would yield "a Parliament that collaborates with the upcoming executive authority to lift Lebanon from its current crisis," while also hoping there would be no delay in the "binding parliamentary consultations" to form a new government, implying that this responsibility falls on President Michel Aoun, who should expedite the call for consultations to select the designated Prime Minister "to save Lebanon."
Awaiting the completion of vote counting and the announcement of the final results from all ballots, Rony Assaad, Secretary General of the "LADY" Association, categorized yesterday’s election day under "pressure, intimidation, assault, and organizational weakness," affirming that "the violations were numerous, as was the intimidation of representatives and monitors while the security forces did nothing." The association urged the Interior Minister in the evening "to facilitate the work of the monitors and allow them to attend the counting operations" after five monitors were barred from being present at the count within the polling stations in Haret Hreik, Mazboud, and Al-Zarariyeh, as well as in the primary registration committee in Beirut.
"LADY" also confirmed in its evening report that it had "documented numerous violations affecting the electoral process," in addition to assaults on its monitors in several regions, where they faced beatings and threats from several representatives, prompting the association to withdraw some of them from certain centers and areas, clarifying that the majority of monitors in the villages of Sidon, numbering 31, encountered harassment from representatives of "Hezbollah" and "Amal Movement." A female observer in the Ramadiyah area of Tyre was threatened by a representative of the "Amal Movement," and monitors in the Siksikiyah area faced threats and were asked to leave, while another monitor in Kfar Malaki - Sidon was insulted and beaten by a representative of "Hezbollah," with other monitors also facing harassment from "Hezbollah" representatives.
Meanwhile, the head of the European election monitoring mission in Lebanon, George Holifini, announced that about 170 monitors had been deployed throughout the country, indicating that the mission would submit its assessment report on the electoral process the following Tuesday to detail "what it observed during the electoral campaigns and on election day."
