Lebanon (MNN) — On Sunday, May 15, people across Lebanon will vote in parliamentary elections. Around 200,000 Lebanese citizens outside the country have cast ballots remotely. In the 2018 elections, the Iran-backed Hezbollah party won a majority in parliament. In this cycle, they hope to increase their power.
Can this election bring positive change to the government? David with Cry Out Now says, “I overheard someone today in a supermarket basically declaring their hope that everybody in the political class would just die because “all they do is steal” – and that’s not an unusual comment.”
People in Lebanon have the freedom to speak their minds about government officials. David says, “The most common opinion is that there is no hope for anything to change.”
Lebanese people have watched the ruling political class steal from them for decades. But to remove them from power, the religious factions would have to come together. Lebanon’s government divides the power among Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, and Christians.
“The general tendency is not to come together in unity, but actually to divide and try to protect your own. That just kind of feeds this crisis.”
Ask God to change the hearts of Lebanon’s corrupt ruling class, no matter the outcome of the elections. Pray Lebanon’s church would display the love of Jesus and the unity of His people. David says, “We’re seeing a younger generation of people in their 20s and 30s. They are going along to churches and expressing an interest to find out more.”
As for practical election outcomes, David says, “We’d love to see the currency stabilize because at the moment is just going up and up and up. The cost of living is becoming extremely high.”
The header photo shows Lebanon’s parliament building in Beirut. (Photo courtesy of Heretiq, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons)
