Lebanon

On 18 April, the Lebanese parliament voted to postpone municipal elections for a second time. Municipal elections are supposed to be held every 6 years and were originally due to take place in May 2022. At that time, they were postponed for 12 months as they coincided with the parliamentary elections. This second postponement entails an extension of the terms of local officials who were elected in 2016 for a maximum of one year (until 31 May 2024). This additional postponement is due to the failure of the fragmented cabinet to approve legislation that would allocate funding for the election. The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections issued a statement condemning the vote, described as ‘undermining the democratic process and the principles of good governance’ and claims the extension is depriving citizens of the democratic process and the right to elect their representatives.

Political Deadlock Elections

After a 13-month stalemate generated by legal complaints and pressure by political elites, lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar announced that the inquiry into the deadly Beirut port explosions of 2020 would resume at the end of January 2023. Bitar indicted, among others, eight senior officials, including Lebanon’s Prosecutor General Ghassan Oweidat and former Prime Minister Hassan Diab. The decision to resume the investigation was challenged by Oweidat, who issued charges against Bitar for allegedly ‘exceeding his powers.’ Similarly, targeted politicians filed at least 25 complaints requesting that Bitar and other judges involved in the case be dismissed. Interrogations were suspended from 6 February until these legal complaints have been adjudicated. Similarly, efforts to advance a stalled probe into the banking sector’s corruption and economic mismanagement –which contributed to Lebanon’s 2019 financial system collapse – were obstructed in February by Prosecutor General Oweidat. The lead investigator, Judge Ghada Aoun, charged two senior bankers for money laundering, and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh for money laundering, illicit enrichment, and embezzlement. Oweidat and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati requested that Aoun halt all investigative work. Oweidat further instructed the security forces not to implement Aoun's judicial decisions.

Accountability Ghassan Oweidat

Lebanon’s Parliament failed to elect a new president amid a political deadlock. The presidential vacuum marks a new phase in Lebanon’s crisis that began with a financial collapse in 2019, and further instability is expected. The country remains without a head of state and has a Cabinet with limited powers since the former President, Michel Aoun, left office on 31 October after completing a six-year term without Parliament’s consensus on a successor. Following Aoun’s departure, Lebanese lawmakers ruled on 3 November that the caretaker government led by Najib Mikati is the country’s legitimate executive authority and can assume the powers of the president in accordance with the constitution.

Political Deadlock Najib Mikati Michel Aoun

Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun resumed consultations on cabinet formation after a pause that lasted several weeks but without a breakthrough. President Aoun’s mandate came to an end on 31 October, leaving behind a power vacuum as parliament failed to elect his successor on several occasions. Divisions remain among political blocs over the makeup of a new cabinet and without a president and limited caretaker government, Lebanon’s political crisis deepens. The continuing failure to form a new cabinet means crucial economic reforms (including lifting banking secrecy and addressing the plummeting exchange rate) remain unimplemented, raising the prospect of popular unrest.

Najib Mikati Michel Aoun