Even with war losses, Hezbollah is taking the vote as a chance to demonstrate that it still holds political power. Voters in southern Lebanon are going to the polls for municipal elections regarded as a test of popular support for Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and military organization.
The Saturday vote in the predominantly Shia region, where Hezbollah is partied with Amal – the grouping headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – is the last stage of Lebanon’s scattered local elections.
It follows a November 2024 truce between Israel and the group, which was meant to bring an end to months of attacks. Israel has, however, continued occasional strikes as recently as on Thursday, when air strikes pounded several sites in the south.
Hezbollah and Amal are expected by most to sweep municipal elections, having already won control of many councils unchallenged. Voting was good in border towns devastated by conflict last year, with inhabitants of Kfar Kila – a town almost destroyed by Israeli bombardment – voting in the nearby town of Nabatieh. Others from the surrounding region voted in Tyre.
The will of life is more powerful than death and the will of building is more powerful than destruction,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said to journalists on Saturday, while making a tour of the south of the country. He added that he has voted for the first time in 40 years in his hometown of Aaichiyeh.
Among them were Hezbollah members who were still reeling from a string of Israeli raids in September 2024, when pagers exploded almost at the same time, leaving over a dozen dead and just shy of 3,000 injured.
“Southerners are showing once more that they are on the side of the option of resistance,” Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayyad, who has constituents in border villages, said in Nabatieh.
