Lebanon election: Major changes not expected as voting concludes

Voting closed on Sunday evening in a parliamentary election that was the first since Lebanon’s economy began to spiral in late 2019, leading hundreds of thousands to protest in the streets against the country’s rulers.

Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said in a news conference that voter turnout was 41 percent, and with just a few polling stations still unaccounted for no major changes were expected. The turnout figure is lower than the 49 percent seen in 2018.

Many Hariri supporters had called for a boycott of the election, and in the Beirut neighbourhood of Tarik Jdide — where portraits of Hariri still hang from buildings — residents in Hay Berjaoui blocked a main road with an inflatable swimming pool and a swing set.