Since the explosion in Beirut, the Lebanese government has resigned and a new election has been announced. At the same time, the people's dissatisfaction with the political government and the widespread corruption in the country continue to grow.

When Middle Eastern analyst Bitte Hammargren visits SVT's Morning Studio on Wednesday, she describes the situation as extremely tense.

- The civil society that exists in Lebanon directs its protests against what is perceived as a mafia-driven activity behind the scenes, where various powerful interests have hit the ground running. When the Prime Minister announced his resignation, he said that corruption is greater than the state. And there is a truth in this, says Bitte Hammargren.

"Lebanese themselves helping each other"

According to Bitte Hammargren, the state institutions are completely absent on the streets and in the rescue work. At the same time, the country is said to be bankrupt.

- It is a country where the money has flowed away elsewhere. The state treasury is empty. Lebanon has one of the world's highest foreign debts per capita, there is no food in stock, there is no electricity for ordinary citizens and there is no water, she says.

- It is the Lebanese themselves who help each other.

Alternatives are in peace agreements

Lebanon has applied for loan guarantees from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, but negotiations have stalled as one of the demands has been structural reforms that would give the IMF insight into the Lebanese economy.

Bitte Hammargren believes that the alternatives for the country in the future are likely to be found in the peace agreement that ended the civil war 30 years ago.

- It actually prescribed that Lebanon would have a kind of two-chamber system where a senate would guarantee the influence of Lebanon's many confessional groups while the parliament would be non-sectarian. And that one would expand a party system on a more national level. Not like now when it is more clan-based or sectarian, says Bitte Hammargren in Morgonstudion.

Will the new election make any difference?

- If there were to be new elections immediately, I think there is a great risk that it will be the same forces that come back.

Above all, a united opposition movement is needed that can stand for a new Lebanon.