Lebanon Elections 2022: Lebanese Cast Ballots for New Parliament Amid Economic Crisis

May 15, 2022

By Staff, Agencies

The Lebanese people started voting this morning in key parliamentary elections, which many hope can set the stage for a recovery from economic woes fueled by US-led sanctions on the country.

Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time across 15 electoral districts on Sunday, with nearly four million people eligible to vote and 718 candidates competing to win 128 parliamentary seats.

The vote comes as the country has been rocked by an economic meltdown that the World Bank has blamed on the ruling class and the 2020 devastating port blast in the capital, Beirut.

The economic crisis, which began in 2019, led to a currency collapse of some 95 percent and the plunging of more than 80 percent of the Lebanese population into poverty.

Lebanon’s parliament is equally divided between Christians and Muslims.

The last vote in 2018 saw Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement and its allies, the Christian Free Patriotic Movement [FPM] of President Michel Aoun and the Shia Amal party of Speaker Nabih Berri, secure a majority by winning 71 of the parliament’s seats.

The absence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has left a vacuum for Sunni votes, which both Hezbollah allies and opponents are seeking to fill.

Hezbollah has said it expects few changes to the make-up of the current parliament, though its opponents, including the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces party, say they are hoping to scoop up seats from the FPM.

The economic and financial crisis in Lebanon is mostly linked to the sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on the country as well as foreign intervention in the Arab nation’s domestic affairs.

The final results of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon are expected to be announced on Monday, with the new legislature set to elect a new president after Aoun’s term ends in October.

Israeli interest in the Lebanese parliamentary elections

Lebanon.. Elections of options

US-Sanctioned Al-Amana Company in Charge of Distributing Iranian Fuel to All Lebanese Beneficiaries

September 17, 2021 

By Staff

After the convoy carrying Iranian fuel passed through Syria and arrived in the Lebanese territories on Thursday, director of the US-sanctioned Lebanese Al-Amana Company Ossama Ollaik announced that 65 diesel cisterns entered Beirut’s Southern Suburb [Dahiyeh] last night.

Iranian diesel cisterns headed on Friday morning to different Lebanese regions, Ollaik said, adding that the cargo is being unloaded in the reservoirs of the al-Amana Company in Beirut, South, Beqaa, and North Lebanon.

“Al-Amana Company will start distributing diesel oil to the beneficiaries upon the priorities set be Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he also noted.

Reiterating Sayyed Nasrallah’s words, he said that two categories will benefit from the Iranian diesel oil, the first will be granted it and the second will pay its costs.

Ollaik then explained that the company has been receiving many requests from all Lebanese regions since Sayyed Nasrallah announced that the first ship has arrived.

Al-Amana will start within days to deliver the diesel oil to the sides that applied for it according to priorities.

“We have committees that will observe the delivery of Iranian diesel to its eligible sides, and will make sure that the diesel is consumed in the suitable places and not being stored.”

Dozens of tanker trucks carrying Iranian fuel bought by Shia businessmen and organized by Hezbollah arrived in Lebanon on Thursday.

Hezbollah declared that it had broken an “American siege.”

As they entered from Syria in the eastern region of Hermel, the trucks were greeted by large crowds of people waving Hezbollah’s yellow flag and women tossing rice and rose petals.

Earlier this week, Sayyed Nasrallah said the Iranian fuel shipments would be distributed free of charge to institutions, including state hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and the Red Cross.

“[Hezbollah] is not looking to make a business out of this but wants to help ease the people’s hardships,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that the rest of the Iranian fuel would be sold “below cost” to bakeries, private hospitals or companies that run private generators.

Lebanon has been mired in a deep economic and financial crisis since late 2019. The crisis is the gravest threat to the country’s stability since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Related

• With Fuel from Iran, Hezbollah Steps In Where Lebanon Has Failed
• New US Sanctions on Lebanese Nationals