The sharp political division complicates the election of a president without compromise
An open sit-in for two Lebanese deputies in Parliament enters its second week
Representatives Najat Saliba and Melhem Khalaf are carrying out an open-ended sit-in in parliament.
A.F.B
A protest demonstration against the deteriorating conditions in the country.
Father
picture
An open sit-in, carried out by two Lebanese deputies inside Parliament, entered its second week on Friday, to protest against the failure of the deputies to elect a president for the country, which exacerbates the economic collapse that is ravaging it.
Since the end of former President Michel Aoun's term at the end of October, parliament has failed 11 times to elect a president, as no political party has a parliamentary majority that would allow it to appoint a candidate to it.
Since the last session on January 19, MPs Najat Saliba and Melhem Khalaf have been carrying out an open-ended sit-in in Parliament, while Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri did not set a date for a new election session due to the sharp political divisions that the country is accustomed to.
Khalaf and Saliba belong to a bloc of 13 deputies that emerged from unprecedented protests against the political class in 2019.
From inside the parliament, Saliba told AFP on Friday, "There is a complete dissolution of the state, and all we want is to preserve what is left of it, which is the parliament. There is no government, no financial system, and the judiciary is also fighting each other."
"We are staying here, and no one thinks we will leave," she added, before electing a president.
As a result of the presidential vacuum, the country is run by a caretaker government that is unable to take necessary decisions in light of the chronic economic collapse since 2019, which has made more than 80% of the Lebanese below the poverty line.
legal battle
In addition to the political and economic crises, the country entered into a legal battle this week between the Public Prosecution Office and the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion, which threatens the entire judicial body.
Since the start of their sit-in, deputies in solidarity with Khalaf and Saliba have gone to the House of Representatives, and some of them spent a night in the parliament.
Representatives published pictures showing the power outage inside the parliament, and their reliance on their mobile phones for lighting and press interviews.
A source close to Berri Al-Jumaa told AFP that the latter "decided not to set a date for a new election session, because matters are immature, but every time he describes the deputies as a farce."
He added regarding the sit-in deputies, "Let their bloc agree on the name of a candidate first, because they themselves are divided."
Due to the sharp political division, it is difficult to elect a president without compromise.
There is no serious candidate announced so far, except for MP Michel Moawad, who enjoys the support of MPs opposed to Hezbollah.
But they do not have the required majority to deliver it.
Hezbollah is calling for a "consensual" president, but its opponents accuse it of obstructing the electoral process, in order to deliver its unannounced candidate, former deputy and minister Suleiman Franj, to the throne.
"When I feel that I have the amount of votes that enable me to become a candidate, I will run," Franjieh told reporters on Thursday.
During a busy week, the lira recorded a record deterioration, as it crossed the threshold of 63,000 against the dollar on Friday, just a week after the exchange rate crossed 50,000 on the black market.
• Since the end of former President Michel Aoun's term at the end of October, parliament has failed 11 times to elect a president, as no political party has a parliamentary majority that would allow it to appoint a candidate.
• As a result of the presidential vacuum, the country is run by a caretaker government that is unable to take necessary decisions in light of the chronic economic collapse since 2019, which has made more than 80% of the Lebanese below the poverty line.
• In addition to the political and economic crises, the country entered into a legal battle this week between the Public Prosecution Office of Cassation and the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion, which threatens the entire judicial body.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news