Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/BEIRUT: Lebanon has been stripped of voting rights at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly for failing to pay annual dues.
According to the Arab News, Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said the government in Beirut should pay arrears of about 1.8 million dollars to regain its status. Other nations that lost the right to vote were Dominica, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and South Sudan.
UN stance on Lebanon stripped of voting rights
Under United Nations rules, the country can lose its vote if it has in arrears of the previous two years’ contributions unless it shows evidence it cannot pay for reasons beyond its control. Lebanon was mired in economic chaos in 2019 when its financial system collapsed after decades of wasteful spending, corruption, and mismanagement.
Foreign Ministry said that on Friday, the debt would be paid “urgently, in a manner that preserves Lebanon’s rights in the United Nations.”
Two independent MPs who spent Thursday night in parliament said they refused to move until the assembly elected a new president on Friday. Lebanon has had no head of state for more than two months, and the Lebanon government has been operating in a caretaker capacity since May 2022.
Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba were elected the previous year on protests in 2019 against Lebanon’s corrupt ruling elite. The squabbling over the presidency is between supporters and opponents of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Khalaf said, “We feel as if democracy is failing in the country, and we have a responsibility today to respect it. Without the president, the work of state institutions could remain suspended. MPs are obligated to go parliament and elect a president.”
