Maronite bishops call for peaceful polls in crisis-hit Lebanon

Maronite Catholic bishops have called on political parties and institutions in Lebanon ensure peaceful polls scheduled for May 15.  

The elections will be the first since the October 2019 mass protests against the Lebanese political establishment.

A statement from the bishops of the Maronite Church, signed by Lebanese Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, the Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, said free and peaceful polls can change the course and avert the national collapse that has been looming over the country for some time.

The bishops expressed the hope that obstacles to the proper conduct of the electoral process be removed, recognizing only an expression of the will of the people, free from any form of conditioning and intimidation. 

The polls are taking place as Lebanon has been grappling with a severe economic crisis, including fuel and medical shortages and a massive currency depreciation since 2019, which the World Bank described as one of the top three worst economic crises of the last 150 years. 

"Preserve the future of the country"

Parliamentary elections are held in Lebanon every four years. More than 718 candidates, including 118 women, are in the fray to win a seat in the 128-member parliament. 

Holding the elections is among the many requirements from the international community to extend their support to this crisis-hit nation. 

With the polls, the heavily armed Hezbollah movement is trying to make its presence felt in the country’s parliament, which is divided according to religious sects. 

The Iranian-backed Shia group occupies a special place in Lebanon as it commands a paramilitary wing that has a more potent arsenal than the national army. The US and other Western nations have classified it as a terrorist organization.

Earlier, Cardinal Raï in a homily asked people to take part in the poll process actively to preserve the future of the country from groups that strive for the collapse of Lebanon and to erase its historical identity.

Reforms reversed

In early April, the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati inked a pact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure around $3 billion of financial aid in return for a flurry of financial and administrative reforms which include passing the 2022 national budget and auditing Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s central bank.

In their statement, the bishops deplored the inaction of political parties to implement the reforms to start cooperation between the country and the IMF to initiate an economic recovery plan. 

Beginning in 2019, political unrest and protests have led to a state of political paralysis in Lebanon.

The situation has further deteriorated due to a series of calamitous events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the collapse of the Lebanese pound and the August 4 Beirut port blast that hit the capital in 2020.

As power blackouts have become the order of the day and food prices dramatically soaring, the country is forced to import goods using foreign currencies purchased at exorbitant black market rates.

The bishops sought strong measures to prevent human trafficking gangs that exploit “the misery and desperation of people.”

Lebanese expatriates cast their vote

On May 8, thousands of Lebanese expatriates living in 48 countries voted for the second phase of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

The polls took place in Australia, the United States, Canada, EU countries, and several African states, the state-owned Anadolu Agency reported. This is the second time Lebanese expatriates were allowed to cast their votes.

The first was in 2018, the last time the country went to the polls.

On May 6, Lebanese expatriates in ten countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Jordan, and Iraq, voted.

The number of expatriate Lebanese registered to vote has tripled since 2018.

In Asia, the figure increased nearly five-fold from 12,610 in 2018 to 56,610 in 2022.

In Europe, where the most registered voters are based, the number rose from 24,113 to 69,140.

The surge in the number of voters in part is attributed to efforts by civil society groups to encourage the diaspora to vote, observers say.

Lebanon has a population of 5 million people. It has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East, making up a third of the population. Also, it is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.