United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power speaks with farmers during her visit to Zahle, Lebanon, on Nov. 9, 2022. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)
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Free Patriotic Movement MPs announced they will vote blank during today’s presidential election session, the first attempt to name Michel Aoun’s successor since the onset of a total executive vacuum. Parliament is scheduled to convene this morning for a fifth presidential election session after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said weekly electoral sessions will be held until MPs elect a president. “A blank vote aims to pave the way for a consensus [candidate],” an FPM statement said. Berri criticized the party’s refusal of his call for dialogue among MPs to reach consensus on the next president. The Lebanese Forces and their allies previously voted for Zgharta MP Michel Moawad while the FPM and their allies cast blank votes. The remainder of MPs also cast protest votes — some for unlikely candidates and others with written-in slogans. International actors meanwhile continue to urge Lebanon to elect a new head of state.
Lebanon received an Egyptian donation of medical cargo and US assurances of expanded humanitarian assistance. A larger-than-expected donation of medicine, vaccines and medical supplies arrived from Egypt at the Beirut international airport yesterday, all of which will be used to combat the cholera outbreak that has killed 18 people and infected more than 400 others. “Seventeen tons of aid were expected to arrive, but the aid was increased to 27 tons,” Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Yasser Alawi said, while caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad assured supply distribution will begin today. Also yesterday, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator, Samantha Power, pledged an additional $72 million for Lebanon, expanding her organization’s reach to 660,000 new beneficiaries. Specific funds will be allocated to “food security” and “Lebanese security forces.” Turkey, Italy, Qatar and the US, among other countries, have been sending aid to assist Lebanon as it faces one of the world's worst economic crises since the mid-nineteenth century, according to the World Bank.
The formation of a parliamentary subcommittee to investigate buildings at risk of collapse was approved yesterday by Parliament’s Public Works, Transportation, Energy and Water Committee. The intervention follows several deaths caused by structural failures in Tripoli. A wall collapsed and killed a Tripoli man on Tuesday. Less than a week earlier, a caved-in ceiling at a public school in the same area killed a 16-year-old girl and injured another student. “What is needed from all the municipalities of Lebanon and from the Education Ministry is for them to count, monitor and search [their buildings],” said committee head Sagih Attieh (former Future Movement/Akkar). Lebanese Association of Properties chairwoman Andera Zouheiry said in June that “4,000 buildings are at risk” of collapse in Tripoli, while more than 15,000 buildings throughout the country, excluding those in the capital, face a similar risk.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri filed a lawsuit against Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Ghada Aoun following her allegations that Berri has significant US-sanctioned offshore wealth. Aoun tweeted an image of a list of 17 Lebanese officials who allegedly have Swiss bank accounts frozen by the US administration, including Berri and his wife, Randa Berri. The lawsuit filed against Aoun alleges defamation, incitement to religious discord, slander and abuse of power. A source close to Berri said the complaint is “the least we can do.” The magistrate — who has prosecuted several officials in recent years, including Riad Salameh and the Mikati brothers — is often at the center of judicial scandal.
In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from yesterday: “Lebanese film producers look everywhere for money, even in Lebanon”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz