Lebanon's ex-Premier Hariri quits politics

AL-MONITOR Staff
AL-MONITOR Staff
Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri gestures to the crowd after a press conference in the capital, Beirut, on Jan. 24, 2022.
Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri gestures to the crowd after a press conference in the capital, Beirut, on Jan. 24, 2022. Hariri, 51, announced he would not run in the upcoming parliamentary elections and was withdrawing from political life. — ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Saad Hariri, the three-time former prime minister of Lebanon, announced Monday that he is quitting politics and does not plan to run in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections. 

Hariri, 51, said in a televised address that he would "suspend any role in power, politics and parliament."

Hariri, who is currently a member of parliament, urged his Sunni-led political party, the Future Movement, to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections. 

The elections scheduled for May 2022 come as Lebanon sinks deeper into its worst financial and economic crisis in decades. The Lebanese currency has lost 90% of its value since 2019, a trend exacerbated by the Beirut port explosion and the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Continue reading this exclusive analysis

Original reporting and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Subscribe to AL-MONITOR to read this story and access everything we publish

Read By

White House logo NATO Logo World Bank logo European Union logo United Nations logo Foreign and Commonwealth Office logo Harvard University logo