AKKAR, Lebanon: Future Movement MP Hadi Hobeish accused his rivals Tuesday of spending huge amounts of money to ensure that their list would win in municipal by-elections held over the weekend, leading to the defeat of the list he supported.

The candidate list backed by the Kataeb party and the Free Patriotic Movement, dubbed My Land, My Identity, won all 18 seats in the municipal council in the election against the Future Movement and Lebanese Forces-backed candidate list, titled Qobeiyat in the Heart.

“For the first time the turnout was [high with] 60 percent and also for the first time the lists were almost complete,” Hobeish said, adding another first, the “huge sums of money” that were spent on the campaigns.

Listing the reasons he believed were behind his electoral defeat, “the timing of the municipal elections was three months before the parliamentary elections and obviously in Qobeiyat many people aspire to win my seat,” he said.

“In addition, spending a huge amount of money [to campaign against Hobeish], bringing in a lot of expatriates to participate in the voting and spreading a lot of rumors and false allegations against me and our list” also contributed to the loss, according to the lawmaker.