Lebanon to hold parliamentary election May 2018 - minister

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (R) chats with Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri (C) as Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh (L) looks on during a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon June 14, 2017. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon is likely to hold long-delayed elections in May 2018, ministers said on Wednesday, after the cabinet approved a new law for a legislative vote that has spared the country a major political crisis.

Recent disputes over an election law that is at the heart of the nation's sectarian political system had pushed Lebanon to the brink of crisis, threatening to leave it without a parliament for the first time.