Beirut, May 15 (AFP\/APP): Lebanon voted Sunday in its first election since multiple crises dragged it to the brink of failed statehood, a major test for new opposition groups bent on removing the ruling elite.<\/p>\n
Observers have warned not to expect any seismic shift, with every lever of power firmly in the hands of traditional sectarian parties and an electoral system rigged in their favour.<\/p>\n
After an underwhelming campaign stifled by the nation’s all-consuming economic turmoil, queues of voters started forming when polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0400 GMT).<\/p>\n
The army deployed across the country to secure a parliamentary election Lebanon’s donors have stressed was a pre-requisite for financial aid crucial to rescue it from bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
A new generation of independent candidates and parties are hoping to kindle the change that an unprecedented anti-corruption uprising in 2019 failed to deliver.<\/p>\n
“I am with change because we tried this current political class before and now is the time to bring in new faces,” Nayla, a 28-year-old who only gave her first name, said after casting her vote in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Independents can hope for more than the lone seat they clinched in 2018 but most of parliament’s 128 seats will remain in the clutches of a political elite blamed for the country’s woes.<\/p>\n
The outgoing chamber was dominated by Hezbollah and its two main allies: the Amal party of speaker Nabih Berri who has held the job since 1992, and the Patriotic Movement of President Michel Aoun.<\/p>\n
“It seems almost impossible to imagine Lebanon voting for more of the same — and yet that appears to be the likeliest outcome,” said Sam Heller, an analyst with the Century Foundation.<\/p>\n
Lebanon was mutilated by an August 2020 blast at the Beirut port that went down as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and deepened one of the most spectacular economic downturns of our time.<\/p>\n
– Corruption –<\/p>\n
The Lebanese pound has lost 95 percent of its value, people’s savings are blocked in banks, minimum wage won’t buy a tank of petrol and mains electricity comes on only two hours a day.<\/p>\n
Despite assurances from the interior ministry that polling stations would be powered on Election Day, local media reported power cuts in some centres.<\/p>\n
Videos shared online showed people sporting their candidate’s colours and shepherding voters into polling booths, continuing a decades-old trend of vote buying.<\/p>\n
More than 80 percent of Lebanon’s population is now considered poor by the United Nations, with the most desperate increasingly attempting perilous boat crossings to flee to Europe.<\/p>\n
Once described as the Switzerland of the Middle East, Lebanon ranked second-to-last behind Afghanistan in the latest World Happiness Index released in March.<\/p>\n
Despite international pressure to reform Lebanese politics, the corruption that sank the country is still rife, including in the electoral process.<\/p>\n
At one candidate’s rally in the northern city of Tripoli, some well-wishers disappointed by the lack of cash handouts made off with the plastic chairs.<\/p>\n
– Low hopes –<\/p>\n
While Sunday’s election might not topple their reviled leadership, some Lebanese see the vote as an important test for the principles that arose during the October 2019 uprising.<\/p>\n
For Marianne Vodolian, a spokesperson for families of victims of the cataclysmic August 2020 explosion that disfigured Beirut and killed more than 200 people, voting is a sacred duty.<\/p>\n
“We are against the regime that ruled us for 30 years, robbed us and blew us up,” said the 32-year-old.<\/p>\n
“The elections are an opportunity to change the system and hold it accountable in a way that makes this country liveable,” Vodolian said.<\/p>\n
Top political barons have stalled an investigation into the explosion — two of the main suspects are even running for a seat — and legal proceedings against the Central Bank governor over financial crimes are equally floundering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beirut, May 15 (AFP\/APP): Lebanon voted Sunday in its first election since multiple crises dragged it to the brink of failed statehood, a major test for new opposition groups bent on removing the ruling elite. Observers have warned not to expect any seismic shift, with […]<\/p>\n
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