Lebanese PM Hariri says parliament bloc down by a third

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has said his Future Movement won 21 seats in a parliamentary election on Sunday, down from the 33 he won in the previous election. Despite the losses in the first parliamentary election since 2009, the result positions Hariri as the frontrunner to form the next government as the leader with the biggest bloc in parliament. Lebanon’s prime minister has to be a Sunni under its sectarian power sharing system. The prime minister said on Monday the international community should look at the results of Lebanon’s election in a “very positive way.” Unofficial results showed Iran-backed Hezbollah and its political allies won just over half the seats in Lebanon’s election. Tehran said on Monday it respected the Lebanese people’s vote.