Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has urged citizens to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The elections within the Lebanese border are scheduled for May 15, reports Xinhua news agency.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has urged citizens to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“We call on everyone to vote with integrity and freedom of conscience,” Mikati said when he inspected an operation room set by the country’s Foreign Ministry to monitor expatriates’ voting, which will start on Friday.
The elections within the Lebanese border are scheduled for May 15, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Prime Minister said that only 220,000 Lebanese expatriates registered to take part in the elections while their number is “in millions”, urging “those registered to vote massively in order to have their voices heard and to bring about change”.
A total of 718 candidates, including 118 females, are running for the elections of the 128-seat Lebanese Parliament.
Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system allocates seats for its mosaic of religious sects in its Parliament, including Sunni and Shia Muslims, various Christian denominations, and the Druze.
The president must always be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni and the Speaker of Parliament a Shia.
Lebanon is in dire need to hold parliamentary elections, which is among the many conditions imposed by the international organisations and donor countries to extend support to the crisis-hit country.
The major financial crisis has plunged over 70 per cent of the country’s population into poverty, while the Lebanese currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value since 2019.
Refugees Crisis
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Thursday that his country is no longer capable of preventing the illegal immigration of refugees by sea.
“We cannot bear such a responsibility again,” Bou Habib was quoted in a statement released by Lebanon’s Presidency as saying.
Last month, a ship carrying over 80 illegal immigrants sank in the waters near the northern city of Tripoli. At least six were killed and dozens are still missing in the accident.
The Lebanese government estimated around 1.5 million Syrian refugees are living in Lebanon, which causes a heavy financial burden on the Middle Eastern country.
Lebanon has been facing a financial crisis, which has plunged over 70 percent of the population into poverty.
IMF Loan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is willing to help Lebanon overcome its severe crisis, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, emphasizing the importance of implementing reforms in a timely manner.
“Timely implementation of agreed-upon reforms is vital to obtaining the much-needed funding from the international community,” Georgieva said, according to a statement released by Lebanon’s Council of Ministers on Sunday.
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Georgieva’s remarks came during her meeting with Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami in Washington, where the international financial institution is headquartered, to discuss the technical support needed by Lebanon to implement necessary reforms.
Chami emphasized the need to pass a few legislations that are necessary to reach a deal with the IMF including the capital control law, amendments to the banking secrecy law and the banking restructuring law.
Chami insisted that the failure to adopt these reforms will have negative repercussions on the Lebanese, while their implementation gives hope for advancement and recovery, in addition to alleviating the severity of the deep crisis.
Lebanon has been suffering from a major financial crisis, plunging over 70 percent of the population into poverty.
