A protest in Tripoli, Lebanon in November 2019. Parliamentary elections in Lebanon are due in May 2022, and protests have been happening since 2019. Photo credit: Wikimedia/Kaepora~enwiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Lebanon is due to hold general elections in May 2022, although some parties have called for early elections. The elections could be delayed for a variety of reasons. The last elections, which took place in 2018, were originally supposed to happen in 2013, but were delayed several times.

Political Context

Lebanon has been in a political crisis and without a government since the port explosion in Beirut, in which 215 people died, 7,500 were injured, and 300,000 were left homeless. Moreover, the country is in an economic crisis, with its currency at a record low and crippling inflation.

Curated News and Analysis

Al-Monitor (January 11, 2022): Protesters block roads in Lebanon as currency hits new low

Jennifer Holleis and Razan Salman, DW (January 8, 2022): Lebanon’s PM to Hezbollah: ‘For God’s sake, have mercy’

William Christou, The New Arab (January 5, 2022): Lebanon MPs to regain immunity in Beirut blast probe following new parliament session

Arwa Damon, CNN (December 30, 2021): Lebanon’s soul has been eviscerated by its financial crisis. Not even the children want to play

Reuters (December 27, 2021): Lebanon Sets May 15 Election Day for Parliamentary Polls

Tessa Fox, Foreign Policy (December 6, 2021): Lebanon’s Reformers Trade the Street for the Ballot Box: After 40 years of stasis, some new faces sense a glimmer of hope to change Lebanon’s poisoned politics.

Sally Farhat, France24 (November 19, 2021): Expats mobilize: Lebanon’s 2022 election, the needed ‘seed of change’

Stephanie T. Williams, Brookings Institution (November 19, 2021): Is Hezbollah overplaying its hand inside Lebanon?

Nicholas Blanford, Atlantic Council (November 5, 2021): Lebanon is facing two crises. Will the new prime minister survive?

Dalal Saoud, UPI (October 19, 2021): Two years after Lebanon uprising, hopes for change pinned on elections

AFP (October 17, 2021): Low turnout as Lebanese mark two years of protests

Tamara Qiblawi, CNN (October 16, 2021): How an investigation into Beirut’s port explosion is rattling Lebanon’s elite, stirring memories of civil war

Hanin Ghaddar, Politico (September 21, 2021): Opinion | Hezbollah’s Grip on Lebanon Is Weakening. Here’s How Washington Can Help.

Kareem Chehayeb and Tala Majzoub, Arab Reform Initiative (September 7, 2021): Lebanon’s Student Movement: A New Political Player?

Ben Hubbard and Bryan Denton, New York Times (August 4, 2021 – photo essay): Collapse: Inside Lebanon’s Worst Economic Meltdown in More Than a Century

Chloe Cornish, Financial Times (July 29, 2021): Lebanon’s year from hell: a diary – Last year’s explosion should have been a nadir. Instead it was the start of a further descent into chaos

Anchal Vohra, Foreign Policy (July 16, 2021): No Prime Minister—and No More Hope—for Lebanon

David Gardner, Financial Times (June 22, 2021): Sanctions could force Lebanon’s politicians to govern: Country is imploding as officials collude in ‘deliberate depression’

Al Jazeera (June 22, 2021): Lebanon raises price of bread for the fifth time in a year

Souad Lazkani, The961 (June 14, 2021): We Spoke To Nadine Moussa, Lebanon’s First Female Presidential Candidate & She Proposed Actual Solutions

Kareem Chehayeb, Al Jazeera (May 24, 2021): ‘Little hope left’: Lebanon’s paralysis and a collapsing state

Edward Gabriel, The Hill (April 27, 2021): Three reasons the US must help Lebanon avoid total collapse

Luna Safwan, Washington Post (April 26, 2021): Opinion: Lebanon is facing an identity crisis. Elections won’t solve it.

David Gardner, Financial Times (March 30, 2021): Lebanon is held hostage by its politicians

Bassem Mroue, AP (March 2, 2021): Protests in Lebanon as local currency hits record low

Bilal Saab, Lawfare (February 21, 2021): Hezbollah Amid Lebanese Collapse

Christophe Abi-Nassif, Middle East Institute (February 19, 2021): The electoral path may not save Lebanon, but its citizens deserve the chance to walk it

Tamara Cofman Wittes, Brookings Institution (May 17, 2018): Three observations after observing the Lebanese elections

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