Ahmed Mourad (Cairo, Beirut)
Yesterday, a number of protesting depositors smashed the facades of two banks in Mount Lebanon, to demand access to their deposits. A number of depositors gathered in front of the Audi and Beirut banks, smashing the glass windows, and setting tires on fire at the entrances. The protesters demanded to get their deposits, and tried to block the road. An army force came to the place. Banks in Lebanon refuse to give depositors their deposits due to the financial crisis that began in October 2019. Four years after Lebanon plunged into a financial crisis that is the worst since the civil war that took place between 1975 and 1990, Parliament failed, yesterday, for the twelfth time in Election of a candidate to fill the vacant position of president since last October. The situation in Lebanon is getting more complicated and worse with the presidential vacuum entering its eighth month, which has had serious repercussions on various living, economic, social and political levels, since the beginning of last November, with the end of the constitutional deadline for electing a new president for the republic, which extended from September 1 to October 31. The Lebanese political analyst, Youssef Diab, explained to Al-Ittihad that the presidential vacuum represents the “mother” of the crises in which Lebanon has been floundering over the past months, and has resulted in many serious repercussions that have made this period a nightmare for the majority of the Lebanese people.
And the International Support Group for Lebanon warned, in early March, of the repercussions of the continuing presidential vacuum, in light of the absence of reforms, the hardening of positions and the increase in polarization, and it urged the election of a new president without further delay.
The Lebanese political analyst said that the presidential vacuum created tragic conditions that exacerbated the suffering of the Lebanese in light of the collapse of the exchange rate of the lira, which led to an insane rise in the prices of energy, food commodities, and medicines, in addition to a sharp deterioration in all services and utilities. Diab pointed out that there are no solutions to the Lebanese crisis before a president who enjoys confidence from inside and outside is elected, and from the womb of the agreement a rescue government is formed that can implement a real reform project.
As for the Lebanese writer and economic analyst, Maysa Abdel-Khaleq, she told Al-Ittihad that the presidential vacuum over the past months has done to Lebanon what the most severe previous crises did not do, as the situation has become more difficult and complicated in light of the worst economic crisis Lebanon has witnessed in history, and the people can no longer bear it. More than that, as the majority of state institutions have almost collapsed, and the poverty rate among the population has exceeded 82%.
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