Lebanese citizens headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament against the backdrop of an economic meltdown that is transforming the country. Sunday’s vote is the first since Lebanon’s implosion started in October 2019, triggering widespread anti-government protests. It is also the first election since the massive August 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed parts of Lebanon’s capital. The blast was widely blamed on negligence. The extent of Lebanon’s collapse was on display Sunday. In the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon’s most impoverished city, several polling stations were without electricity and voters had to climb several flights of stairs to cast their ballots. At one polling station in Beirut crowds of people were seen waiting outside the centre before polls had even opened. Some voters who cast their ballots told the AP they were hoping the election would bring about change in the country. The voting is seen as a last chance to reverse course and punish the current crop of politicians, most of whom derive their power from Lebanon’s sectarian political system and spoils taken at the end of its 15-year civil war in 1990. A new crop of candidates from the 2019 protest movement are running against the country’s entrenched ruling class that is blamed for the economic collapse, hoping to unseat them.
World News
15 Mayıs 2022 - 11:27
Güncelleme: 16 Mart 2024 - 23:49
Lebanon election: Voters go to polls to choose new parliament amid economic meltdown
Lebanese citizens headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament against the backdrop of an economic meltdown that is transforming the country
World News
15 Mayıs 2022 - 11:27
Güncelleme: 16 Mart 2024 - 23:49
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