Lebanon

16 May 2022; MEMO: Voter turnout in the Lebanese parliamentary elections held yesterday was as little as 25.26 per cent four hours before polling stations were due to close, Anadolu news agency reported, citing the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities.

Interior Minister Bassam Al-Mawlawi said that the final count will be issued after the judges finish counting the ballot papers.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese voted for a new parliament Sunday against the backdrop of an economic meltdown that is transforming the country and low expectations that the election would significantly alter the political landscape.

A new crop of candidates from the 2019 protest movement are running against the country’s entrenched ruling class that is blamed for the collapse, hoping to unseat them. But they are divided and lack the money, experience and other advantages held by traditional political rulers with a decades-long grip on power.

BEIRUT (AP) — In households across Lebanon, it’s likely that one or more family members are planning to emigrate — if they can get a passport. Demand is high but the bankrupt government has not paid the company contracted to issue or renew the documents.

Lebanese spend their days at the banks, waiting to see what meager amounts they will be allowed to withdraw for the month. They install batteries and solar panels at great cost so their family can survive the humid summer months without electricity from the grid.

11 May 2022; MEMO: Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said he had received a message through diplomatic channels indicating Israeli confirmations that Tel Aviv does not want to do attack Lebanon.

Speaking to a gathering of the group's supporters in Beirut's southern suburbs yesterday, Nasrallah said: "We do not trust the enemy, nor his messages, nor the statements of its prime minister. Therefore, our alertness and our readiness will remain until the end of the Israeli manoeuvres."

BEIRUT, May 9 (NNN-NNA) – The second phase of Lebanese expatriates voting in parliamentary elections kicked off in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 48 other countries yesterday.

More than 25,000 Lebanese voters residing in the UAE are eligible to vote and long queues were reported outside polling stations, Lebanese news platform, L’Orient Today, reported.

10 May 2022; MEMO: The Centre for Lebanese Studies has called on donor governments to address the unprecedented education crisis in Lebanon at a funding conference in Brussels today.

This includes putting pressure on Lebanon to change policies preventing aid reaching schools and on the education ministry to end restrictions on access to schooling for refugee students.

10 May 2022; MEMO: Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday that he had ordered the group's fighters on the southern Lebanese borders to be on alert in order to be ready for any possible Israeli attack, Quds Press reported.

"Some of the Lebanese political forces used our weapons as headlines for their electoral battles," he said, referring to the demands of several factions that Hezbollah disarm and leave the mission of protecting the state to the army.

BEIRUT (AP) — The World Bank approved a $150 million soft loan for food security in crisis-hit Lebanon to stabilize bread prices during the coming months, the economy minister said Monday.

Amin Salam told reporters that the loan has a very low interest rate but the minister did not make the rate public. He used the term soft loan indicating a below-market rate of interest.

The loan will provide great relief through stability of bread prices in Lebanon during the country’s historic economic meltdown.

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Lebanese living in nearly 50 countries began early voting Sunday in the country’s closely watched parliamentary elections, days after a similar vote was held in 10 predominantly Muslim nations.

About 195,000 Lebanese had registered to vote Sunday in 48 countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, European Union member states and several African nations.

The vote in Lebanon takes place May 15.

BEIRUT (AP) — Umm Khaled hardly leaves the tent where she lives in northwest Syria, and she says she doesn’t pay attention to the news. But she knows one reason why it is getting harder and harder to feed herself and her children: Ukraine.

“Prices have been going up, and this has been happening to us since the war in Ukraine started,” said the 40-year-old, who has lived in a tent camp for displaced people in the last rebel-held enclave in Syria for the past six years since fleeing a government offensive.