[4] On 22 March 2013, Mikati resigned, citing a negative climate over the appointment of a committee to oversee the election and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) head Ashraf Rifi, who was expected to retire in April, continuing in the position.

[2] The deadlock was perceived to arise from failure to reach quorum due to the voluntary absence of members from the ex- 8 March alliance.

The previous system (under which the 128 members of parliament were elected from 26 multi-member constituencies under multiple non-transferable vote, and the candidates with the highest number of votes within each religious community were elected)[5] with a new electoral law instituting proportional representation in 15 multi-member constituencies while still maintaining the confessional distribution.

[17][18][19][20] However, compared to the previous election, the Amal-Hezbollah bloc lacked an alliance with Michel Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement.

[21] But whilst FPM and Amal had parted ways nationally, they still managed to form alliances in Mount Lebanon III and Beirut II.

[18] In North I (Akkar) and South II (Saida-Jezzine) FPM formed electoral alliances with al-Jamaat al-Islamiyya.

[34] Moreover, whilst FPM and the Amal-Hezbollah coalition parted ways nationally, joint lists were presented in Beirut II and in Mount Lebanon III (Baabda).

[18] In the end, the Free Patriotic Movement candidates joined the list led by the former regional secretary of the Baath Party, Faiz Shukr.

[38] The political newcomers included lawyer Roula Tabash Jaroudi in Beirut II and civil society activist Chadi Nacchabe in Tripoli.

[26] Commenting on the slogan party leader Saad Hariri stated that "[the] Future Movement is a Talisman (blue bead) that you put in the ballot box, to protect the country.

You will draw the Talisman with your activity, with your energy, with your daily small and large contributions to the electoral machine, in your dialogue with people, in working for each candidate on the Future lists.

"[37] The Future Movement and the Lebanese Forces negotiated for weeks on forming an electoral alliance, but the effort failed as relations between Future leader Saad Hariri and LF leader Samir Geagea deteriorated on issues relating to Hariri's visit to Saudi Arabia.

[41] On 22 March 2018, Nasrallah issued a statement outlining the main priorities for the parliamentary bloc of the party, Loyalty to the Resistance, in the next parliament.

[42] He described the relation with FPM as 'normal', whilst reaffirming the claim that opponents to the Amal-Hezbollah bloc in Bekaa III had supported 'terrorist groups'.

Kataeb ran the elections based on an attempt to re-brand the party as a reformist political force, and distance it from its right-wing conservative legacy.

The party held the elections based on a discourse inspired by protest movements, and attempted to re-brand itself away.

[26] At the ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of killing of Progressive Socialist Party founder Kamal Jumblatt in Moukhtara on 19 February 2017, Walid Jumblatt symbolically gave his keffiyeh to his son Taymour, symbolically marking the generational shift in the party leadership.

[44] The Democratic Gathering bloc, the parliamentary platform of the Progressive Socialist Party, fielded 9 candidates across the country.

For the first time since 1992 PSP chief Walid Jumblatt did not stand as a candidate, with Taymour taking over as the party leader.

[46] In a statement issued on 29 April 2018 the Political Representative of the Arab Democratic Party Rifaat Eid called on his followers to vote for the Alawite candidates Hussein Saloum (on the list of Wajih Barini) in North I and Ahmed Omran in North II (on the list of Faisal Karami).

[47] Prior to the election the Arab Socialist Baath Party had suffered a split, with Regional Secretary Assem Qanso and Numan Shalq heading in different directions.

Reportedly, the Syrian ambassador had lobbied against any list accepting Qanso's candidates, as his group is not recognized from Damascus.

A Baathist politician, Kassem Hachem, was included in a list in South III as Amal candidate, but not on behalf of the party.

[61][62] On 22 March 2018 the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, or Tashnag, announced its candidates in Beirut I and Mount Lebanon II (Metn).

[29] In Bekaa I (Zahle) Tashnaq opted to support the candidature of Marie-Jeanne Bilezikjian, pharmacist and women's rights activist, on the joint FPM-Future list.

[citation needed] The report found that the countries with the most voters registered in, those in North America, Australia, France, and the United Arab Emirates, mostly supported Lebanese Forces, Marada and FPM lists and candidates.

[70] In a statement issued in the evening of 7 May, Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk promised to release full election result within 36–48 hours.

[71] In his statement, he announced "final, yet incomplete" official results, providing the names of elected parliamentarians from 14 out of 15 electoral districts.

Their efforts, however, ended in failure...No one in the world can target Hezbollah as it has firm support among various strata of the Lebanese society.

Towns and cities in southern Lebanon have served as the resistance front in the face of threats being poised by the Israeli regime and terrorist groups.