Hope or stalemate? Lebanon waits to see if election can deliver change

Despite some successes for independent candidates, crisis-ridden Lebanon’s future is no clearer after last weekend’s election

Families of the victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion hold pictures during a protest in the city

(Reuters)

The chief task of the new parliament elected during last weekend’s vote in Lebanon is a critical one: it will be to ensure the very survival of the embattled, near-bankrupt country.

Time is running out. The Mediterranean nation of some 6 million people is, according to the World Bank, in the grip of one of the worst economic collapses in modern history, and is still reeling from the enormous explosion that took place in Beirut in 2020.

The local currency lost over 90 per cent of its value in just a year, while food and medicine prices increased fivefold and sixfold respectively over the same period. Most of the country only gets a few hours of state power a day, while food, water, fuel and medicines are in short supply.