BEIRUT — Michel Aoun’s election as president on Oct. 31 ended the longest presidential vacancy in Lebanon’s history, and with that and Saad Hariri’s appointment as prime minister, Lebanese are now turning their attention to next summer’s parliamentary elections. After parliament extended its term for a second consecutive time in 2014, new groups arose to challenge the powers that have traditionally dominated Lebanon’s government, making for a potentially historic election.
A series of popular movements emerged out of the 2015 garbage protests, channeling protesters’ demands and presenting voters with political alternatives. Although Lebanese civil society groups have thus far fallen short of their objectives of winning elections and deciding government policy, they have inspired a new wave of Reformist parties that could for the first time realistically contest the current political elite at the parliamentary level.
