Lebanon

BEIRUT, May 19 (Reuters) - When Halime El Kaakour enters Lebanon's parliament as a newly elected lawmaker next week, she will step past the same concrete barriers that security forces erected to keep her and other protesters out during massive anti-government rallies in 2019.

Powered by that protest movement and popular anger over the financial implosion that followed, about a dozen activists and reform-minded newcomers like her were elected to the 128-member legislature on Sunday.

18 May 2022; MEMO: A newly-elected Lebanese Member of Parliament has come under heavy criticism over a tweet she posted in the past which called for the "genocide" of Syrians within Lebanon.

Cynthia Zarazir, who early this week won a parliamentary seat for the opposition Li Watani [For My Nation] list in the first district of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, is being criticised for her tweet in a Twitter post she wrote back in 2016, which has re-emerged following her election.

BEIRUT, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The results of Lebanon's 2022 parliamentary elections have reflected the strong desire of the Lebanese people for political changes to lift Lebanon out of its worst financial meltdown in decades, Lebanese experts said.

Final election results released on Tuesday showed that Hezbollah and its allies have lost the parliamentary majority as their seats combined are fewer than the 65 seats needed to secure a majority in the 128-seat parliament.

17 May 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and its allies have lost their parliamentary majority after the final results of the country's general elections were announced today.

The Hezbollah-led bloc won 62 of the 128 seats up for grabs, three fewer than it needed and was a reversal of the 2018 results when it won a majority of 71.

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.