Deputies from Lebanon's ruling March 14th Movement met in the debating chamber of Parliament on Tuesday but failed to achieve a quorum and, consequently, could not elect a new president.
Legislators from the Hizbollah-led Opposition went to Parliament but did not enter the chamber. A new session was called on October 23rd.
There is serious concern that delaying the next session until then could lead to new attacks on March 14th figures, eight whom have been killed since early 2005. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt predicted the assassination of more March 14th legislators, thereby depriving the bloc of its narrow 68-seat majority in the 128 seat national assembly.
Most Lebanese are frustrated and furious with their representatives for carrying on with a struggle which is crippling the country. Bankers, investors and businessmen fear its faltering economy cannot sustain further uncertainty.
Francois Bassil, head of the bankers association, warned that if the current situation continues for long, the economy could collapse. The 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon cost the country $15 billion, compounding the difficulties of servicing a huge $41 billion public debt.
This year’s conflict between the army and the ultras of Fatah al-Islam in the north has also undermined investor confidence.
“Lebanon should be attracting a substantial part of the massive Gulf oil revenues but all we have is a tiny percentage of the surplus invested or pledged before the war,” one source told The Deccan Herald.
This means construction of Gulf-financed projects in the centre of Beirut and on the slopes of Mount Lebanon continues although affluent Gulf tourists have demonstrated their lack of confidence in Lebanon by summering elsewhere. Educated young Lebanese are emigrating, causing a brain drain that Lebanon can ill afford. For many Lebanese, the parade of presidential candidates is a proof that the politicians do not take the politico-economic crisis seriously. “There are at least 20,” historian Sofia Saade quipped, although only eight are serious contenders.
Many Lebanese are doubly upset because confessional politics imposed on the country in the 1930s by France, the former colonial power, continue to be the basis of governance. Thus, all presidential candidates must be Maronite Catholics in accordance with the formula apportioning top jobs among the country’s four main sects.
Lebanese, eager for change, are particularly angered that provisions calling for deconfessionalisation in the agreement which ended the 1975-90 civil war have not been enacted by politicians determined to stay in power.
