On 15 May last year, Lebanon held its first general parliamentary elections after the 17 October uprising of 2019. Accordingly, the country’s anti-establishment movement won 13 seats in an unprecedented advancement for non-sectarian forces.
Hezbollah and its allies had lost their majority, the MPs which formerly constituted the traditional ‘March 14’ bloc are no longer a coherent entity, and the population had new faces to anticipate.
However, since then, most opposition MPs have not been able to forward a coherent program or discourse. Specifically, the 13 MPs within the so-called ‘Change Bloc’ couldn’t agree on one particular name to back for the presidency following the end of Michel Aoun’s term.
Some went further to espouse support for typical establishment figureheads, such as Michel Mouawad, who has had close links with powerful financial institutions blocking an economic rescue plan.