Voting continues today, Sunday, in various Lebanese regions to choose new parliamentarians, in the first parliamentary elections in Lebanon following a series of major crises. According to the numbers that began to be announced by the electoral machines, participation is good compared to the 2018 elections, while there were provocations and attempts to create problems and obstruct traffic on the roads by Hezbollah elements to prevent voters from reaching the polls.
The observers of the European Mission recorded an increased turnout at the polling stations by the voters, as well as many violations of the electoral silence. There were also complaints from Baalbek regarding people voting in place of other deceased persons, while the Shiite duo Hezbollah and the Amal Movement practiced many attacks and intimidation.
The turnout at noon, according to the Ministry of the Interior, was 15%, while the Election Supervision Commission announced hundreds of violations resulting from the violation of the electoral silence by various media outlets, candidates and political parties.
A supporter of Hezbollah roaming a fake missile launcher in Beirut
According to the latest figures received from the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior, the public participation rate was regarding 32 percent.. In Beirut First District, 26.53 percent as of 5 p.m. Beirut time, Beirut Second District’s voter turnout reached 28.21 percent, and Baalbek-Hermel affiliated to the Third Bekaa District It recorded 39.83 percent, and Tripoli within the second northern district amounted to 21 percent.
This morning, the Lebanese legislative elections began to choose 128 deputies to parliament, as polling stations opened their doors in the first parliamentary elections in Lebanon since the economic collapse in the country. Voters go to the polling stations to cast their votes in the parliamentary elections that are held every four years to choose the representatives who make up the Lebanese parliament.
About 4 million voters are entitled to go to the polls, more than half of them are women.
Political and living headlines dominate these elections, in light of Arab and international diplomatic interest in the choices that will result from them.
From early voting for Lebanese abroad
From early voting for Lebanese abroad
From early voting for Lebanese abroad
The elections constitute the first real test for opposition groups and young faces that resulted from unprecedented popular protests in October 2019, which demanded the departure of the political class.
Although the number of candidates opposed to traditional parties has increased compared to the 2018 elections, not many are counting on a change in the political landscape that would allow addressing major issues in a country with limited resources, aging infrastructure, and rampant corruption in its institutions.
Polling stations open their doors to more than 3.9 million eligible voters, more than half of whom are women, and close at seven in the evening (18:00 GMT), following which the counting of polling stations begins. The final results are likely to be announced on the next day.
“It is ironic that the first national elections since the start of the crisis likely won’t make much of a difference,” said Sam Heller, researcher at the Century Foundation, in a report published in Century Research.
“It is not likely to lead to a fundamental change in the composition of parliament or in how policy is made in Lebanon,” he added.
The elections are taking place once morest the backdrop of an economic collapse that the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since 1850. More than 80% of the population is below the poverty line, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value once morest the dollar, and the unemployment rate has touched regarding 30%.
It also comes regarding two years following the explosion of August 4, 2020, which destroyed a large part of Beirut, killed more than 200 people, and injured more than 6,500 others. The explosion, according to security and media reports, was caused by negligence and the storage of large quantities of dangerous materials, and investigations are underway regarding their source, without any preventive measures.
Parliament includes 128 deputies. The likelihood in the outgoing parliament is for Hezbollah and its allies, most notably the Free Patriotic Movement led by President Michel Aoun and the Amal Movement headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been in office since 1992.
