The European Union will send election observers to monitor Lebanon’s May 2022 parliamentary elections, at the invitation of the Lebanese government, the EU announced on Wednesday.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, has appointed György Hölvényi as Chief Observer of the Mission for the fourth time.
The team’s chief observer, György Hölvényi, said in a statement that “the European Union has supported Lebanese Parliamentary elections by sending election observation missions in 2005, 2009, and 2018.”
In turn, Josep Borrel said that the EU has been committed to assisting Lebanon’s electoral process by providing financial and technical support, emphasizing on EU’s mission to support democracy in Lebanon and provide a transparent electoral process.
Initially set for March 2022, then pushed to May 15, these elections could bring the much-needed change in the political scene that the Lebanese people are aching for, mainly in regards to the ruling body and system.
There has been a radical change in the positions and mindsets of many in Lebanon since the last elections, mostly due to the massive disillusion towards their party or community leaders in governance leading to the collapse of the country.
Negligence, corruption, misgovernance, idleness, failure to assume responsibility towards the people, the Beirut Blast, and political interference in the justice system, to name a few, have crumbled the country but also people’s faith and trust in their traditional political-sectarian leaders.
Since the start of the October 2019 Revolution, they have been demanding changes from the political elite to no avail. The economic crisis only turned since then into an unbearable multi-faceted crisis and Lebanon into a failed state.
