Lebanese security forces monitoring the municipal ballot in Beirut on May 8, 2016. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022. Is the country in for another political vacuum at the municipal level?Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi repeatedly announced that municipal elections will be held in May 2023. But with an apparent lack of political will and the ongoing presidential vacancy, municipal elections seem unlikely.More than $11 million is needed to organize the elections, but it is unlikely these funds will be unblocked. During Parliament’s last meeting on Monday, the cabinet postponed deliberation of the vote’s funding despite its presence on the meeting’s agenda.As it stands, the political vacuum induced by the presidential vacancy, may very well extend itself to the municipal level of state institutions. If the elections are postponed, 1,000 municipal councils are likely to be dissolved by May 31.‘You...
Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022. Is the country in for another political vacuum at the municipal level?Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi repeatedly announced that municipal elections will be held in May 2023. But with an apparent lack of political will and the ongoing presidential vacancy, municipal elections seem unlikely.More than $11 million is needed to organize the elections, but it is unlikely these funds will be unblocked. During Parliament’s last meeting on Monday, the cabinet postponed deliberation of the vote’s funding despite its presence on the meeting’s agenda.As it stands, the political vacuum induced by the presidential vacancy, may very well extend itself to the municipal level of state institutions. If the elections are postponed, 1,000 municipal councils are likely to be dissolved by May...
Humanitarian convoy reaches Rmeish, Ain Ibl, Dibil despite obstacles
