Lebanon: Shouf-Aley District to Turn into Electoral Battleground

Lebanon’s Parliament. AFP file photo
Lebanon’s Parliament. AFP file photo
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Lebanon: Shouf-Aley District to Turn into Electoral Battleground

Lebanon’s Parliament. AFP file photo
Lebanon’s Parliament. AFP file photo

The Shouf-Aley district in Mount Lebanon is heading towards a fierce electoral confrontation between several parties, after failing to reach an understanding over the names of candidates for the parliamentary polls, except for an alliance between the Mustaqbal Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

On Tuesday midnight, the Interior Ministry officially closed candidate registration for the May elections.

At least 3 lists backed by Lebanon’s ruling political parties would compete in the Shouf-Aley district, in addition to a list supported by civil society groups.

According to some observers, the Lebanese Forces objected to include pro-March 8 candidate, Naji Boustani, on a joint list with the Mustaqbal and PSP parties and instead, insisted on naming two candidates, George Adwan and Anis Nassar.

“Contacts between the LF and the PSP are ongoing. All sorts of things could happen,” LF sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

In the Shouf-Aley district, Sunnis represent 19 percent of eligible voters, while the Druze constitute 40 percent and the Christian Maronites 27 percent.

Therefore, three lists supported by political parties in power are expected to compete during the next elections in case all contacts fail to reach an agreement between the LF, the PSP and Mustaqbal. 

Bilal Abdullah, a PSP candidate, told Asharq Al-Awsat that an agreement was already finalized between the PSP and Mustaqbal.

“We have failed to strike any deal with the Free Patriotic Movement. However, the doors are still open to a possible alliance with the LF,” he said.

Informed sources said the FPM was negotiating a possible alliance with either the Lebanese Democratic Party, headed by Minister for the Displaced Talal Arslan, or head of the Arab Tawhid Party Wiam Wahhab.  

There are 322,000 voters in the Shouf-Aley district, which is allotted 13 seats - 5 for Maronite MPs, one Chatholic, four Druze, two Sunnis and one Orthodox.



Two Million Syrians Returned Home Since Assad's Fall, Says UN

Syrian migrants wait at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Türkiye, - Reuters
Syrian migrants wait at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Türkiye, - Reuters
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Two Million Syrians Returned Home Since Assad's Fall, Says UN

Syrian migrants wait at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Türkiye, - Reuters
Syrian migrants wait at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Türkiye, - Reuters

Over two million Syrians who had fled their homes during their country's war have returned since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said Thursday, ahead of a visit to Syria.

The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011 with Assad's brutal repression of anti-government protests, displaced half of the population internally or abroad.

But Assad's December 8 ouster at the hands of Islamist forces sparked hopes of return.

"Over two million Syrian refugees and displaced have returned home since December," Grandi wrote on X during a visit to neighboring Lebanon, which hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, according to official estimates, AFP reported.

It is "a sign of hope amid rising regional tensions," he said.

"This proves that we need political solutions -- not another wave of instability and displacement."

After 14 years of war, many returnees face the reality of finding their homes and property badly damaged or destroyed.

But with the recent lifting of Western sanctions on Syria, new authorities hope for international support to launch reconstruction, which the UN estimates could cost more than $400 billion.

Earlier this month, UNHCR estimated that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million internally displaced persons may return by the end of 2025.