‘The Last Hope’: Lebanon foreigners want to say in elections | Election Issues

Beirut, Lebanon – Before massive protests against the Lebanese authorities before the country swept the country in October 2019, Yasmin Saad never imagined that he would gain the upper hand in his country’s politics.

But two years later, watching France face a number of challenges plaguing millions of Lebanese, a 22-year-old advertising student decided to register to vote in next year’s parliamentary election.

“I feel like it’s the last chance – or the last hope,” Saad told Al Jazeera of Marseille. “What compelled me to start voting was the days when everyone was doing street demonstrations – and we had our own demonstrations and rallies in France.”

He is not alone. More than 210,000 Lebanese living abroad are facing a deadline on Saturday to register to vote in the March 27 election – doubling the number of former signatories in the 2018 elections.

Millions of Lebanese have left the country over the past few decades, taking their skills and expertise abroad in search of better opportunities in the face of instability, deep-rooted corruption and financial mismanagement. While there are no definite statistics, most statistics show that the population is mostly out of the country than in a small country of about 6.5 million people, including Lebanese and refugees.

Lebanese expatriates were allowed to vote for the first time in 2018 under the new election law which also stipulated that six seats would be added to parliament in the 2022 elections to represent the diaspora. However, independent political parties and many other countries did not agree with this, saying that this was a way to separate people who were outside their territories. Last month, lawmakers refused to add six seats, meaning voters would vote in May for the existing 128 seats.

In October 2019, major protests erupted in Lebanon against the ruling coalition of political parties and political parties that has been going on in the country for decades. Lebanese in many cities around the world staged similar protests and demonstrations led by young people in their homelands, raising their voices to call for the reorganization of the divisive power system in Lebanon that has brought about greater love.

Since then, the crisis has intensified, with the Lebanese currency losing about 90 percent of its value compared to the United States dollar. About three-thirds of the population lives in poverty, relying heavily on charity and support in the absence of social programs.

Public outrage against the regime reached a climax in August 2020, when a major explosion in the Beirut harbor devastated several areas in the capital, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands. Lebanese overseas organized a number of local charities to help families in need of medical attention, heating, and rent.

Saad said the past two years have forced him and his friends to support self-proclaimed candidates who have promised to challenge the status quo.

“We were all united once, just to change and want a better future,” Saad said. “It made me realize that maybe these decisions will be different.”

And independent political parties have recognized.

Mark Daou is a representative in the Chouf-Aley mountain region on behalf of Taqaddom, the founding party of what he calls “progress” and “democracy”.

He said the number of people registered in the diaspora was a reliable development and showed great interest among the people from Lebanon to participate in the elections.

“We’ve been in contact with a number of Lebanese – but they’ve really been communicating for good,” Daou told Al Jazeera on the phone on his way to France on Friday after a meeting with Lebanese living in Germany. “They would ask, ‘Are you leaving? How to register [to vote]? ‘”

Power sharing system

Edy Semaan left Lebanon for the United States in 2017 to pursue his Masters degree and is currently working as a communications specialist in Washington, DC. He did not vote in Lebanon’s final election four years ago, but this time, he wants to retire and return home immediately to support an independent party campaign in the run-up to the elections.

“I have a pro-thawra [revolution]”Semaan told Al Jazeera proudly.

However, he acknowledged that he did not expect to see any major changes in the legislature, and that he was referring to powerful financial institutions and customer service systems in many countries – Lebanon’s political regime has been providing funding for years to help its members, many. who have been financial stewards.

“I don’t think the diaspora has changed much this election season, but I think it will help bring new people to parliament,” Semaan said, arguing that ending “deep-seated corruption” in Lebanon would take years.

Ibrahim Halawi, secretary of foreign affairs at Citizens in a State, an independent party that announced last week to take part in voting, said “there is no ‘diaspora’.

“This eliminates the long-standing existence of sectarian groups within the diaspora,” he told Al Jazeera.

For him, Daou said he hoped that independent political parties and opposition parties would get “10 to 20 percent” of the seats in parliament.

On paper, it may look like a small piece. But the fact is that it could prove to be a huge success because the Lebanese factional power-sharing system, which distributes sectarian seats across different states, has become a major obstacle for independent candidates.

As a result, building the electoral framework for the district not only brings in the right and appropriate people – but also finds people with the same ideals of other groups in their constituencies.

The Lebanese government – from the Iranian-backed Shia group in Hezbollah to the Christian Lebanese-backed Christian party – has been taking advantage of this opportunity to share power, and has led to the promotion of politics in other parts of the country.

However, anti-establishment organizations and political parties have repeatedly tried to recapture professional groups, alliances and student groups. Last summer, independent political parties boycotted the election of an engineering firm, the largest in the country.

‘The war to divide the lost’

Parliamentary elections come at a crucial time in Lebanon that has money.

The government under Prime Minister Najib Mikati is facing a number of obstacles to get the country back on track. It has prioritized discussions with the International Monetary Fund on a fiscal plan, which could open up billions of dollars in debt and financial aid.

Although the Central Bank and commercial banks are urging the government to ensure that they do not become overwhelmed by the repatriation process, Olivier De Schutter, a United Nations special journalist on human rights and extreme poverty, recently criticized them for not accepting their responsibilities. problems due to their poor systems and depositors’ management management.

With this in mind, Halawi, the Citizens in a State, said even a handful of new MPs would be able to step back from the influence of the country’s broken economic system and ensure that millions of Lebanese people who have already been beaten do not carry extra money. in the recovery section.

“It’s a war to distribute the lost,” he said.

“This is the time, in terms of history, where people have to say that medical care and all education is free. This is where banks and elite crooks are the weakest. We have to fight hard to get what we want.”