After the failure of the 12th session, what are the scenarios for the situation in Lebanon with the ongoing presidential vacancy?

The Lebanese people are living black days, through a presidential vacancy for nearly two years and the Presidency Chair without a Governor, as the Lebanese Parliament continues to fail to manage the election of a new president, despite the presence of many names announcing their candidacy. During a dramatic session, the Lebanese Parliament failed to elect a president for the 12th time.

The crisis has made Lebanon the most corrupt country in the world, and the people are suffering from repercussions, poverty, and crises that have not reached solutions so far, such as the Beirut port crisis, which has lasted for more than a year, and there is no one who has been accused of the biggest disasters in the Middle East.

Hezbollah candidates fail

Hezbollah’s candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, had been slated to win after receiving support from the Iran-backed party, but in the end neither candidate, former Finance Minister Jihad Azour, managed to secure enough votes to win the parliamentary session.

The failure of the vote is exacerbating sectarian tensions in Lebanon, already mired in one of the world’s worst economic crises and also facing unprecedented political paralysis in the absence of a head of state, a fully empowered cabinet, and a divided parliament.

The Controversial Session

The session ended after deputies from Hezbollah and its ally, Amal, walked out after the first round; It also suspended the continuation of the quorum in the second session.

Since the end of former President Michel Aoun’s term in office at the end of October, the parliament has failed in 11 sessions, the last of which was held at the beginning of the year, to elect a president at a time when no single party has a majority to be able to deliver its candidate to the position.

“For months, Lebanon has been running a caretaker government that has been unable to make the necessary decisions, at a time when the country has been experiencing an economic collapse since 2019, which the World Bank has listed as among the worst in the world since 1850.”

Political analyst Anis Naccache said the failure of the parliamentary elections indicates a complete political failure in the country, and it is up to the people to choose their president, not the parliament, which fails to express the voice of the angry citizen.

Naccache added that the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its purchasing value against the US dollar since 2019, which confirms the fear of a number of honorable politicians to run in the elections in light of a dramatic deterioration that pushed thousands of young people to emigrate, or become unemployed, and increased poverty.

He said the crisis in the banking sector is exacerbating the situation by refusing to release thousands of domestic and foreign depositors in dollars; This is indicative of the state that is suffering, and the parliament, as it is failing and insists on failure, as there are 12 failed sessions to choose a president for the country.