Hezbollah’s presidential preference, cholera vaccination campaign, Beirut Marathon: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

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Hezbollah knows who it wants as Lebanon’s next president, a party official said yesterday, without naming the candidate; meanwhile Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai announced his openness to a “consensus candidate.” Parliament has failed on five occasions to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose term in office ended on Oct. 31; it is due to meet on Thursday for a sixth attempt. Hezbollah parliamentary bloc head MP Mohammad Raad yesterday announced that the party has a candidate whose presidency it is “acting to ensure.” Attempts to elect a new president have resulted in a majority of MPs, primarily from Hezbollah, the Free Patriotic Movement and their allies, casting blank votes. Parliament has not managed to keep the required quorum to progress to a second round of voting at any of its electoral sessions. Presidential candidates can be successfully elected during a second round of voting with a simple majority of 65 out of Parliament’s 128 MPs — a less stringent requirement than the 86 ballots, representing two-thirds of Parliament, needed in the first round. Yesterday’s comments from Rai included a call for an international conference to mediate the election, involving the “United Nations, as well as any country that considers itself a friend of Lebanon.”

Lebanon launched an 18-day cholera vaccination campaign on Saturday in the Bekaa and Akkar governorates, administering 26,700 doses on the first day, caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said yesterday. Bekaa and Akkar residents received vaccines, donated by international actors and distributed by administrative staff and nurses in the regions. Infection reports from the Health Ministry released on Sunday showed 536 confirmed cases of the disease to date while the number of deaths remained at 18 and the number of hospital beds occupied by confirmed or suspected cholera patients decreased to 56. Reappearing after 30 years, cholera risks becoming “endemic” according to Abiad, who emphasized the importance of early intervention. The health minister set the campaign’s goal as inoculating “70 percent of the targeted population in the most vulnerable areas." Halting infections, however, also requires serious effort to “clean the water sources.” Deficiencies in fuel provision and electricity provision amid Lebanon’s third year of economic crisis impaired the functioning of water infrastructure, exacerbating the spread of cholera, a waterborne illness.

State Security on Friday raided the Vehicle Registration Center in Dekwaneh, east of Beirut, continuing an investigation by Lebanese authorities into vehicle registration-related corruption. During the raid, security forces seized reportedly forged documents after earlier investigation efforts allegedly revealed embezzlement by vehicle registration officials. Arrest warrants as of Thursday had been issued for 15 Road Traffic Department employees, including senior officials and department heads. "If you want to prosecute every director general because bribes were paid in their administration, none of them will stay home," lawyer Hadi Hobeish said after caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi authorized proceedings against the former director general of the Road Traffic Department Hoda Salloum.

Al-Arz ski resort in the Bsharri region of North Lebanon on Friday reported vandalism to its ski-lift which might be too severe to repair ahead of the upcoming ski season, a resort owner told L’Orient Today. Unidentified persons cut the wires of the ski lift at the resort, causing “considerable” damage. As Lebanon’s economy slid further into crisis, ski resorts considered closing their doors last year while others priced their entrance fees in dollars. Ski resort owners reported numerous difficulties the past season, owing to inclement weather and fuel shortages that impeded municipalities from effectively clearing blocked roads and forced the shutdown of Electricité du Liban service stations.

Thousands of runners competed in Beirut Marathon races yesterday as the event returned to the international circuit of road races after a three-year hiatus. The Oct. 17 nationwide protests in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 canceled the event completely, while last year the races went ahead but outside the IAAF Road Race Label Events international circuit. The Beirut Marathon was created in 2003.

In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from over the weekend: “Journalist witness to Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder vows to ‘honor’ her legacy”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz