Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab and his cabinet resigned Monday under pressure from protests that have sought to overturn the country’s political leadership following last week’s deadly explosion that devastated large parts of central Beirut.
“I set out to combat corruption, but I discovered that corruption is bigger than the state,” said Mr. Diab in a televised address. “I declare today the resignation of this government. God bless Lebanon.”
Beirut has been rocked by protests in recent days, with thousands of people demanding justice for the more than 150 killed in the blast. The explosion, which occurred when a fire at a warehouse ignited a cache of chemicals, destroyed a swath of the capital’s city center, including thousands of homes and businesses, the port of Beirut and much of the city’s famed nightlife district.
Rather than resolving the political and economic crisis in Lebanon, the cabinet’s resignation is likely to trigger more political instability in one of the Middle East’s most important centres of culture and finance and an enclave of relative stability next to war-torn Syria.
“Not only do we have an absence of government and a political vacuum, but we’re going to have a severe problem with the function of the state of Lebanon,” said Imad Salamey, a political scientist at Lebanese American University in Beirut. “We are heading toward the unknown.”
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Following the resignation, Mr. Diab’s cabinet becomes a caretaker government with limited powers until a new government is formed, which is expected to occur through a pact among the country’s rival political factions. In the past, it has taken months to form a cabinet as the nation’s parties hammer out a deal that satisfies a complex set of political interests and religious groups. Mr. Diab said over the weekend that he would request early elections, but no timeline has been set for a vote.
Before Mr. Diab resigned, Lebanon’s political factions withdrew support for the government and a series of key officials quit the cabinet in recent days, including the ministers of finance, justice and health.
The cabinet’s dissolution shows how much the Lebanese public has turned against the country’s political leaders, including politicians from a range of religious and political factions. For many Lebanese, the explosion symbolized government ineptitude that underpinned an economic crisis in recent months.
The resignation is unlikely to resolve the crisis. Lebanon’s economy remains in free fall, and protesters are increasingly demanding an overhaul to the entire political system, not simply a replacement of the government.
The Wall Street Journal
