Meeting of the liberal Professions Syndicates of Beirut on Nov. 1. (Credit: NNA).
BEIRUT — The Liberal professions syndicates of Beirut decided on Friday to suspend elections in syndicates due to the current situation in the country amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel.
According to the state-run National News Agency, the liberal professions of Beirut held a coordination meeting in Furn al-Chebbak on Friday, which included the heads of the syndicates of doctors, press editors, engineers, pharmacists, psychologists, and nurses among others.
Following the meeting, the Head of the Doctors Syndicate Youssef Bakhash said that due to the exceptional circumstances, "it is necessary to suspend" elections in syndicates. He said that a "large number of members of the general electoral bodies "are either displaced or forcibly expelled from their places of residence and are unable to come to their syndicates and participate in the elections, and therefore cannot be deprived of their right to elect their representatives."
Following the escalation of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on Sept. 23, more than 1.4 million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
Among others, the Beirut Bar Association was to hold elections in November.
"We meet today under compelling circumstances and a devastating war that has changed the aspects of our daily, economic and social lives ... and forced us to determine our future paths", Bakhash said.
Moreover, he said that the syndicates "put their capabilities at the service of the country and the citizen to face the existential and fateful challenges that Lebanon is currently going through."