Lebanese vote on Sunday to choose their MPs, a first test for independent candidates and opposition groups that emerged following a popular uprising sparked in October 2019 to demand the departure of a political class accused of corruption and corruption. incompetence.
The election should however maintain the status quo in favor of traditional political forces, yet held responsible for the worst socio-economic crisis in which Lebanon has been mired since 2019, warn experts.
Attendance was still low in most areas with a turnout of 32% at 1 a.m. (2 p.m. GMT), two hours before the polls closed, according to the Interior Ministry.
An important security device has been deployed for the elections to which some 3.9 million voters are called who must renew the 128 members of Parliament until 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT). The results are expected on Monday.
Incidents and assaults
But in regions where Hezbollah has a strong presence, incidents have multiplied between supporters of rival formations. According to the Lebanese Association for Election Democracy (LADE), responsible for supervision, several of its members were attacked in polling stations, particularly in the Bekaa (east), Hezbollah’s stronghold.
In the same region, the Christian party of the Lebanese Forces, firmly opposed to the weapons of the Shiite party, indicated in a press release that several of its delegates were beaten and driven out of polling stations.
LADE also released a video showing Hezbollah supporters harassing an independent candidate in the southern suburbs of Beirut, another stronghold of the powerful pro-Iranian movement.
Also in the southern suburbs of the capital, a man was arrested by security forces for insulting Lebanese President Michel Aoun as he left a polling station, local media reported.
“I am for change, because we know this political class”, unchanged since the end of the civil war three decades ago, Nayla told AFP after voting in Gemmayzeh in the capital. For this 28-year-old student, Lebanon badly needs “new faces”.
“Clean up the system”
The elections are held in accordance with a law adopted in 2017, to the advantage of the ruling parties, and in the absence of the main Sunni leader Saad Hariri, who is boycotting them.
In the Sunni district of Tarik Jdide, in Beirut, stronghold of Mr. Hariri’s party, supporters of the former prime minister set up several inflatable swimming pools in the middle of the streets to express their intention to boycott the election, photographers from the AFP.
In 2018, the legislative elections were dominated by Hezbollah and its allies, in particular the Free Patriotic Movement (CPL) of President Aoun and the Shiite movement Amal, of the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been mired in a socio-economic crisis ranked by the World Bank as the worst in the world since 1850 and caused by decades of mismanagement and corruption by a ruling class that has been virtually unchanged for decades.
In almost two years, the national currency has lost more than 90% of its value on the black market and the unemployment rate has almost tripled. Nearly 80% of the population now lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.
These are also the first legislative elections since the devastating explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, which killed more than 200 people and ravaged entire districts of the capital.
The free fall of the economy and the collapse of basic public services have pushed a large number of Lebanese to leave the country.
A large part of the candidates, among the traditional parties and the independents, conducted their campaign with “sovereigntist” slogans, accusing Hezbollah of serving the interests of Iran and maintaining its hold on Lebanon thanks in particular to a large arsenal military.
After voting in Beirut’s Karantina district, Cynthia Toukajian, a 37-year-old consultant, said she “hopes that those who have helped maintain a failing system now feel compelled to help clean it up by voting against the parties in power.