BEIRUT: Three key aides of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri were fired or resigned, his office has revealed, a week after a disastrous showing in the country´s first general election in almost a decade.
Hariri´s Future Movement lost a third of its seats in the May 6 vote, ceding ground to its Christian former allies and parties on the other side of Lebanon´s political divide, including the Hezbollah movement.
The premier´s chief of staff, his cousin Nader Hariri, "resigned from all his functions", according to a statement late Saturday, without specifying a reason.
The movement said its coordinator, who was also in charge of the party´s election campaign, had been relieved of his duties following a review. It said another unnamed cabinet official had also been dismissed.
Despite seeing his movement lose its status as the largest party in parliament, Lebanon´s delicate sectarian balance of power means Hariri is likely to remain prime minister once a deal on a new government is reached.
Hariri blamed some of the movement´s losses on Lebanon´s new electoral law, but admitted he and his party had "betted on a better result".