Lebanon Postpones Parliamentary Elections by Two Years — Active War Cited

The Lebanese parliament voted to postpone the country's parliamentary elections — originally scheduled for May 2026 — by two years to 2028, citing the renewed war between Israel and Hezbollah as the reason. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri oversaw the session, which was attended by Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc — even as Israeli warplanes flew above the nearby southern suburbs of Beirut where IDF strikes on Hezbollah financial infrastructure were underway. The two-year postponement effectively suspends Lebanon's electoral process for the duration of what is expected to be a multi-year recovery period following the war. Lebanon was already in a deep political and economic crisis before the war began — the banking system had collapsed, the currency was in freefall, and the political system was paralysed by sectarian deadlock. The postponement formalises what has been informally true throughout the conflict: Lebanon's state institutions are largely bystanders to the war being waged on its territory by Hezbollah and Israel. The presence of Hezbollah MPs during an IDF bombing campaign overhead is a vivid illustration of the paradox at the heart of Lebanese politics.