Further postponing municipal elections could have serious implications for externally funded projects aimed at improving basic service delivery, including efforts to support police increasingly overwhelmed by higher crime. CRISIS GROUP/Michelle MalaneyAvoiding Elections Lebanon’s establishment parties have long viewed municipal elections as a nuisance, or even a threat, an exercise better honoured in the breach. In the last municipal elections, held in 2016, a civil society coalition running on the platform Beirut Madinati (Beirut, My City) nearly snatched the majority in the capital. Without local elections to usher in new politicians who can attract outside funding, municipal councils will continue to waste away, consecutive mandate renewals notwithstanding. External powers, especially the U.S. and Europe, should press Lebanon’s politicians to commit to holding municipal elections within a plausible timeframe, perhaps three to four months.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 31, 2023 16:14 UTC