Lebanon votes but few expect major change
LEADS
Published: 05:05 PM,May 15,2022 | EDITED : 09:05 PM,May 15,2022
BEIRUT: Lebanon held its first election on Sunday since a painful economic crisis dragged it to the brink of becoming a failed state, a major test for new opposition groups bent on ousting the ruling elite.
But few observers expected a seismic shift, with all levers of political power firmly in the hands of traditional sectarian parties and an electoral system seen as rigged in their favour.
Lebanon shares power among its religious communities, and politics is often treated as a family business. 'We tried this current political class before, and now is the time to bring in new faces,' said 28-year-old Beirut voter Nayla after casting her ballot.
A new generation of independent candidates hopes to kindle the kind of change that a 2019 protest movement failed to deliver, and looked likely to do better than the single assembly seat they clinched last time.
But most of parliament's 128 seats are expected to remain in the grip of the entrenched groups blamed for the country's woes -- chiefly the economic downturn that is the worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Turnout in the election was low, with only about 25 per cent of registered voters casting their ballots by 3 pm, according to the interior ministry. 'It seems almost impossible to imagine Lebanon voting for more of the same,' said Sam Heller, an analyst with the Century Foundation. 'And yet that appears to be the likeliest outcome.'
Lebanon's crisis has been so severe that more than 80 per cent of the population is now considered poor by the United Nations, with the most desperate increasingly attempting perilous boat crossings to flee to Europe.
The Lebanese pound has lost 95 per cent of its value, people's savings are blocked in banks, the minimum wage won't buy a tank of petrol and mains electricity comes on only two hours a day.
Deepening the country's woes, much of the capital was devastated by the deadly August 2020 explosion of volatile chemicals that had been left for years in a portside warehouse, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded.
Top political barons have stalled an investigation into the disaster, and legal proceedings against the Central Bank governor over alleged financial crimes are equally floundering.
The army deployed across the country on Sunday to secure the election, which Lebanon's international donors have stressed is a prerequisite for financial aid crucial to rescue it from bankruptcy. - AFP
But few observers expected a seismic shift, with all levers of political power firmly in the hands of traditional sectarian parties and an electoral system seen as rigged in their favour.
Lebanon shares power among its religious communities, and politics is often treated as a family business. 'We tried this current political class before, and now is the time to bring in new faces,' said 28-year-old Beirut voter Nayla after casting her ballot.
A new generation of independent candidates hopes to kindle the kind of change that a 2019 protest movement failed to deliver, and looked likely to do better than the single assembly seat they clinched last time.
But most of parliament's 128 seats are expected to remain in the grip of the entrenched groups blamed for the country's woes -- chiefly the economic downturn that is the worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Turnout in the election was low, with only about 25 per cent of registered voters casting their ballots by 3 pm, according to the interior ministry. 'It seems almost impossible to imagine Lebanon voting for more of the same,' said Sam Heller, an analyst with the Century Foundation. 'And yet that appears to be the likeliest outcome.'
Lebanon's crisis has been so severe that more than 80 per cent of the population is now considered poor by the United Nations, with the most desperate increasingly attempting perilous boat crossings to flee to Europe.
The Lebanese pound has lost 95 per cent of its value, people's savings are blocked in banks, the minimum wage won't buy a tank of petrol and mains electricity comes on only two hours a day.
Deepening the country's woes, much of the capital was devastated by the deadly August 2020 explosion of volatile chemicals that had been left for years in a portside warehouse, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded.
Top political barons have stalled an investigation into the disaster, and legal proceedings against the Central Bank governor over alleged financial crimes are equally floundering.
The army deployed across the country on Sunday to secure the election, which Lebanon's international donors have stressed is a prerequisite for financial aid crucial to rescue it from bankruptcy. - AFP