Lebanon is in pain

The 2022 Lebanese general election is coming up. Due to the ongoing political and economic crisis the country’s inflation has skyrocketed in the past two years as the financial and economic crisis spirals out of control. The election is now scheduled for March 2022 with politicians doing very little to mitigate its impact. The currency has lost nearly 90% of its value and plunged three quarters of residents into poverty. As well as the controversial electoral law, there has been speculation that the election could be postponed.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government has only a few months to try to secure an IMF recovery plan amid a deepening economic meltdown.

Moreover, the judicial official said that the judge leading Lebanon’s probe into last year’s massive port explosion renewed his summonses of two former ministers for questioning.

The decision by Judge Tarek Bitar came despite intense criticism from the country’s powerful Hezbollah group of the direction of the long-running investigation.  Lebanon’s financial crisis, which the World Bank labelled one of the deepest depressions of modern history, had been compounded by political deadlock for over a year before Mikati put together a cabinet alongside President Michel Aoun. The currency has lost 90% of its value and three-quarters of the population have been propelled into poverty. Shortages of basic goods such as fuel and medicines have made daily life a struggle. The crisis may deepen as last week’s battle went on for five hours between supporters of Lebanon’s two powerful factions and gunmen believed to be supporters of a Christian party.

It was not just memories of the war that were triggered by the scenes of gunmen in streets and schoolchildren ducking under desks.

Abu Ali
By email