A recent directive issued to senior Fatah commanders in Palestinian refugee camps around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre appears to mark the beginning of a concerted effort to regulate, and possibly hand over, Palestinian weapons south of the Litani River.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Tensions between residents of southern Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) flared again on Tuesday, as a patrol was blocked by locals in the town of Shaqra, preventing its entry without an escort from the Lebanese Army.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Everyone has a theory about how to fix Lebanon.
Monday, May 19, 2025
The Lebanese journey of, and into, uncertainty is continuing, for the fifth consecutive year – and the nth time in the century-long history of this republic. Albeit under new management, the state remains stuck between a mountain of debt, a sea of social and economic inequalities, and a black hole in place of once efficient (more or less) institutions. No local or global stakeholder disagrees on the baseline: the country urgently needs tangible trust and solidarity – in form of investments and loans – as much as extreme determination to have a chance of escaping this maelstrom.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet in their second derby of the season with the Liga lead on the line and the focus on refereeing. Real Madrid has spent the days ahead of Saturday’s match complaining of mistakes against the club.
Thursday, February 6, 2025
The first Chinese driver in Formula 1, Zhou Guanyu, is heading back to Ferrari as one of its reserve drivers for the 2025 season.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Saturday 24 May 2025 09:28:48
Voters in southern Lebanon are heading to the polls on Saturday as the country enters the final phase of municipal elections, covering towns and villages in both the South and Nabatiyeh governorates.
The elections represent a crucial step toward restoring local democratic governance. Most municipal councils have remained in office since 2016, well beyond the six-year term limit set by the Lebanese constitution. The vote, initially scheduled for 2022, was postponed three times due to political gridlock and Lebanon’s worsening financial crisis.
Saturday’s round includes elections in 153 municipalities across the South Governorate, which encompasses the districts of Sidon, Tyre, and Jezzine, and in 119 municipalities within the Nabatiyeh Governorate, which includes Nabatiyeh, Bint Jbeil, Hasbaya, and Marjayoun.
In light of recent hostilities and the destruction of roughly 30 border villages, the Interior Ministry announced that polling stations for those communities were relocated to safer villages farther from the Israeli border.
Before heading to his hometown, Al-Ayshiye, to cast his ballot, President Joseph Aoun kicked off the electoral process with an inspection tour of the operations room at the Sidon Serail, where he held a meeting with senior security officials in the presence of the Ministers of Interior and Defense, as well as the Governor of the South.
Southern municipalities are spread across the districts as follows:
A significant number of municipal contests in the Nabatiyeh Governorate have already been settled without a vote. According to the Interior Ministry, 45 municipalities were won uncontested across the region. These include 17 municipalities in Bint Jbeil, 3 in Hasbaya, 13 in Marjayoun, and 13 in Nabatiyeh.
In the South Governorate, an additional 52 municipal councils won by acclamation, underscoring a broader trend of political settlements and lack of competition in several areas.
Under Lebanon’s bloc vote system, used for both municipal and mukhtar (local head) races, voters select as many candidates as there are seats available on each council. Those with the highest vote tallies win. In the event of a tie, the older candidate is declared the winner. If the candidates are of the same age, the outcome is decided by lottery.
The scale of Saturday’s vote underscores the region’s political weight, with hundreds of thousands of eligible voters spread across the seven districts. Below is a breakdown of registered voters and the number of municipalities in each district:
The official website of the Kataeb Party leader
