State workers head to the polls today in Lebanon. Some 15,000 employees from public institutions are eligible to vote.
Ballot-casting takes place in the shadow of overlapping and overwhelming crises. Lebanon has been without a functioning government since 2019 when leaders stepped down in response to nationwide protests. COVID-19 further complicated matters, driving even more Lebanese into poverty.
Then, the 2020 port explosion in Beirut added a new level of chaos. Lebanon held the world’s highest inflation rate in 2021, and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war cut food supplies earlier this year.
May 15 elections
The world views the upcoming elections as a catalyst for International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans. These loans are Lebanon’s only way to save a collapsing financial sector. Lebanese voters will pick leaders to fill the 128 seats of Parliament, divided among religious lines.
“Half of those are nominal Christians of all Christian faith groups, the Catholics, Orthodox, [etc.] and then the remaining 64 are divided among the Muslim faith groups,” Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says.
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SOURCE: Mission Network News, Katey Hearth
CALL TO ACTION
- Pray the Lord turns Lebanon’s collapse into good by bringing more people into His Kingdom.
- Pray Lebanese believers find more opportunities to share the hope of Jesus.
