Lebanon (MNN) — Lebanon’s Parliament met yesterday to choose a new president and failed to reach a consensus for the fourth time. Officials will try again on Thursday and have until October 31 to select a replacement for the current president, Michel Aoun.
“The old president (Aoun) finishes [his term] at the end of October, and we still have no consensus on who the next president will be,” Nuna of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says.
“We are going towards a vacuum, which means the prime minister will be taking over the government – which is not good.”
Michel Naim Aoun is Lebanon’s current president. His term expires on October 31, 2022.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Lebanon’s government has been functioning under a limited caretaker capacity for months. More about that here. Political parties cannot agree on a new leadership lineup, so they cannot “unlock” the global financial assistance needed to relieve Lebanon’s collapsed economy.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese people suffer. “We have a lot of humanitarian needs that are not taken care of because we [do] not have a Ministry of Social Affairs that [can] work,” Nuna says.
“We still have a country that is bankrupt.”
Nongovernment organizations like Triumphant Mercy play a critical role by helping people survive. Every food or fuel delivery shows the tangible love of Christ.
Help Triumphant Mercy continue this critical work here.
“Winter [is starting], and people are [afraid] because there’s no fuel. The fuel price is hiking so much that people cannot afford it,” Nuna says.
“Pray that God will do something [to save Lebanon] and that the economy will rise from the ashes.”
In the header image, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, on the margins of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week in New York City on September 20, 2022. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
