Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Amid one of the worst economic crises, for the 11th time running, Lebanon’s parliament was unable to elect a new president on Thursday.
With 37 lawmakers returning empty ballots, the election turned into a farce. The most votes, 34, were bagged by Michel Moawad, Issam Khalife got 7 votes, Ziad Baroud only 2 while Edward Honein received just 1 vote, according to Lebanon’s news agency.
Failure of Lebanon’s parliament to elect president has stalled reforms
In October 2022, when ex-president Michel Aoun had stepped down, a caretaker administration took over, which forced many economic reforms to get stalled which were focused on fighting rampant corruption and ending wasteful spending.
In April 2022, Lebanon’s concerned officials reached a tentative deal with the International Monetary Fund for a recovery plan. This agreement was conditional as numerous centered on ending corruption and economic reforms were required to be completed.
However, the IMF has criticized Lebanon’s slow efforts to meet these requirements.
