A voter in a polling station in Batroun during the municipal elections in Lebanon, on May 11, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L’Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Five members of the Aqoura (Jbeil) Municipal Council submitted their resignation on Thursday following the election of the president and vice-president, according to reports from the state-run National News Agency. Jbeil governor Mohammad Mekkawi confirmed to L'Orient Today the resignations, which have reduced the 20-seat council to 15.
Nour Hachem, Georges Hachem, and Regina Hachem all resigned from the new municipal council in the city of Aqoura, in the Jbeil district, an hour after the council's president and deputy were elected. Shortly after, two more members, Akl Nasrallah and Hala Merheb, also resigned.
“The resignation took place after the election of the president and the vice-president,” Mekkawi said, without naming the now-former members. He noted that the members “had not agreed to" electing the president and vice-president.
“The municipality is still operational because less than half of its members have resigned,” he added, specifying that the resigning members will be replaced in partial elections that will be organized by the Ministry of the Interior.
Municipal elections, which were organized after three years of repeated delays, have already taken place in Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa. The last round of municipal elections will take place in the South on Saturday.
