MP Fouad Makhzoumi (second from the left), during a dinner he hosted at his home with his fellow Parliament members and a U.S. delegation, on Aug. 17, 2026. (Credit: Photo taken from his X account)
The list backed by Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi won 11 of the 18 seats on the Beirut Families Union compared with just seven for former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement. Hariri bowed out of politics in 2022. The union itself carries little real political weight. However, the victory of Makhzoumi-backed candidates has been interpreted as another sign of his growing influence in Beirut and among Sunni voters, a year after his list won the municipal elections. But while some media outlets — and Makhzoumi’s own camp — are touting the result as an electoral “tsunami,” the small scale and limited stakes of the vote call for a more nuanced assessment. “The Hariri camp no longer dominates the Beirut Family Union,” a source close to Makhzoumi said, noting that this is the first time since 1998 that it has lost its grip on the union.In...
The list backed by Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi won 11 of the 18 seats on the Beirut Families Union compared with just seven for former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement. Hariri bowed out of politics in 2022. The union itself carries little real political weight. However, the victory of Makhzoumi-backed candidates has been interpreted as another sign of his growing influence in Beirut and among Sunni voters, a year after his list won the municipal elections. But while some media outlets — and Makhzoumi’s own camp — are touting the result as an electoral “tsunami,” the small scale and limited stakes of the vote call for a more nuanced assessment. “The Hariri camp no longer dominates the Beirut Family Union,” a source close to Makhzoumi said, noting that this is the first time since 1998 that it has lost its grip...
