A vendor sells national and party flags near Beirut on May 2, 2018. Lebanon is holding its first parliamentary elections in nine years and testing a new election law.
A crack of light may be starting to show through Lebanon's political stalemate. On May 6, voters go to the polls in the country's first parliamentary elections since 2009. The balloting will put to the test the 2017 electoral reform aimed at loosening the iron grip of sectarianism that has been in place since Lebanon's independence in 1943. The elections pit the March 8 Alliance, a coalition representing Hezbollah and Iran, against the March 14 Alliance, with parties backed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France and, to a lesser extent, the United States. Both sides will be looking for an advantage under the new law, and the outside powers will be looking for a chance, however slim, to alter the balance of influence in Lebanon.
