reporter’s gaze
After defeating politicians who have been in office for 30 years, newcomers come to the chamber with a desire to reform
The boiling Beirut squares were their tribune in 2019 and now the Lebanese parliament will be their platform. There are more than a dozen new faces who are broken old political traditions in Lebanon. If the barbed wire in the October Revolution kept them from approaching the legislative headquarters, then this Tuesday, when the new public representatives took their seats, they finally succeeded in overcoming the odds and sowing the seeds of change.
Each of the 13 deputies attached to the opposition and reformist lists, winning a seat in the May 15 elections, could count as a small achievement. Of mark dou has ended the parliamentary career of Druze leader Talal Arslan. This ally of the Shia militia Hizbul and the Syrian government clinging to its ‘throne’ for three decades, during which he also served as a minister in six governments since the 1990s. The ‘Sardars’, one of the country’s Druze factions, are descendants of Amir Majid Arslan, a feudal leader who played a key role in Lebanon’s independence from France in the previous century. However the roots of Arslan – which rivaled the Jumblat, the second great Druze dynasty – go back centuries.
Arslan Jr. has nicknamed ‘Emir’. Everyone in Lebanon calls him ‘Prince’. Now he has been superseded by a humble 43-year-old communications professor: Mark Dou. “Public opinion is in favor of a radical change in the country. It is time to turn the page and start a new political phase away from civil war logic and cake sharing,” the new MP told the newspaper Sthal. L’Orient-le Jour’. Dau participated in every demonstration that surrounded the political class in October 2019. the street demanded resignation of elitesWhich he considers responsible for the downfall of the country.
Dau, who co-founded the Takddom (Progress) party in November of the year of the revolution, says, “October 17 changed the game. Previously, we used to go to war with the system to achieve reform. . Formation of sovereignty of the state advocates strengthening the U.S., disarms Hizbul – the only militia to have kept its rifles after the civil war – and Establishment of a secular system in Lebanon,
Halima Al Kakouri She holds a doctorate in International Public Law and teaches at the Lebanese University. After being elected on 15 May, she has become the only Surya Muslim woman in Parliament. “We are anticipating and, God willing, we will collect the change,” she speculates excitedly to the Reuters agency. In the fall of 2019, he came face to face with concrete barriers placed in legislation to prevent protesters from coming. “You didn’t allow us to enter Parliament as ordinary citizens? You blocked us and put up walls? Well, now we are entering as Members of Parliament,” he says.
The rise of reformist deputies was one of the surprises generated by the results of elections in which Hizbul, Amal and their Christian ally the Free Patriotic Movement – pro-Syrian – lost the majority they had won in the 2018 elections. required seats to dominate the assembly (out of a total of 128 deputies), but together they remain a powerful coalition, adding to the affiliation of deputies who appear as independents.
His rivals in the anti-Syrian camp, the Christian nationalists of the Lebanese forces – allied with the Druze of Walid Jumblat’s Progressive Socialist Party – rose to the top as the largest Maronite force. But the void created by the non-consent of the Future Movement of the main Sun party, Saad Hariri, sells them somewhat. the result is a highly fragmented parliament,
Take Fallout as a Priority
Now the priority is to solve the deep economic crisis gripping the country, where The local currency has lost over 90% of its value And food, medicine and fuel are in short supply. Kakaur says, “It is now necessary to respond to the decline in the standard of living… The fight is economic.”
Elias Jarade One of the faces of the revolution which now enters the Parliament. The eye surgeon has snatched a chair from a seasoned Hizbul colleague in its southern stronghold. Assad Hardan, of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and 70 years old, was one of the legislators who held office for the longest time: 30 years.
“No one would have ever believed this part of Lebanon would change. We’re telling them: ‘It’s a symbol, I give you the torch and we hope you continue,'” Jared Special Medium transfers from. ‘Middle East Eye’, for new generations to come. He claims he showed up because his 16-year-old daughter urged him to join demonstrations against the government after the Beirut port explosion in the summer of 2020 devastated the Lebanese capital and left more than 200 scars behind. Gave. dead and 6,500 injured.
Hizbul adds infamous casualties: Chi is another great loser in the party-militia’s southern fiefdom, with another three decades on the back of AM Bank president Marwan Jereddin and parliamentary and feudal privileges. Firas Hamdan |The 35-year-old lawyer, who was injured in the chest during the 2020 demonstrations, took the seat from Hasabaya. He claims, “One of the victims is in Parliament to raise the voice of outsiders and claim their rights.”
On the dark side of the coin, two legislators accused of involvement in the Beirut port disaster have been re-elected. They are Ali Hassan Jalil and Ghazi Zetair, both from Amal, who live in their manor. The uneasiness of the victims of the tragedy, They fear they will continue to hinder investigations into why tons of ammonium nitrate were stored for years from their positions, without safeguards.
He was re-elected as the Speaker of the Parliament yesterday Nabih Berik, Amal’s Gyrfalcon. At 84, the former ‘chieftain’ has held the position since 1992 during Lebanon’s nepotism conflict – the quota system for Shia – and this is his seventh term.
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