Berri Sets Inaugural Parliamentary Session for Tuesday Incumbent Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri scheduled the inaugural session of parliament following the May 15th elections for next Tuesday, May 31st. In this session, the elections of a new speaker, deputy speaker and the members of the Parliament Bureau are expected to take place. [Naharnet]
Lebanon’s National Human Rights Commission: Serious Torture Allegations Remain Uninvestigated According to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, of Lebanon’s National Human Rights Commission, “Lebanese judicial authorities still fail to investigate serious torture allegations made by victims.” The findings published by the CPT are based on five of the Committee’s visits to civil and military prisons and detention centers – Roumieh Prison being one of them – which the CPT describes as, “far from acceptable,” with respect to its conditions. [L’Orient Today]
Patients Left Unable to Pay for Healthcare Amid Lira Crash According to Arab News, “Doctors, patients, and hospital owners, who protested in the vicinity of government ministries and the central bank in Hamra Street on Thursday, called for the dollar accounts of hospitals and doctors to be liberalized and warned that things were going to get worse.” [Arab News]
Telecom Minister, Executives Clarify New Tariffs In a joint presentation, the Minister of Telecommunications, Johnny Corm – alongside Director General of Ogero, Imad Kreidieh, and the Chairmen of the two mobile operators, Alpha and Touch – clarified the approved changes to the telecom tariffs. As reported by L’Orient Today, Salem Itani, the chairman of Touch, said that, “the new rates will be calculated based on current prices in US dollars divided by three and then multiplied by the Sayrafa rate.” [L’Orient Today]
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The Policy Initiative Lebanese Parliamentary Elections: Beyond The Results: How Did Alternative Groups Perform?
“The seats won by opposition candidates in the Lebanese parliamentary elections came as a shock to many. Despite alternative political groups having different political views, 13 opposition MPs have made it into parliament.”
The National Lebanon Braces For A Drawn-Out Battle For The Presidency After Elections Jamie Prentis
Prentis writes, “Along with the huge reforms needed to tackle this crisis, the task of electing the next president falls to Lebanon’s new parliament after nationwide elections on May 15. Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies — including the Free Patriotic Movement party that Mr. [Michel] Aoun founded — lost their parliamentary majority, while opponents gained ground. It also ushered in 13 anti-establishment MPs, many linked to the October 2019 nationwide protests against the incumbent political parties. If anything, those elections only hardened the divisions in the legislature which faces the more immediate tasks of electing its speaker and forming a government.”
