Elections in Lebanon: A Show of Sovereignty or a Scripted Farce?
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri recently affirmed that parliamentary elections are to proceed on time, despite calls for delay citing current 'security concerns' in the volatile south. This declaration, on its surface, appears to be a commitment to democratic process in a nation often portrayed as on the brink. Curiously, the perennial 'security concerns' used to justify, or question,
such exercises rarely extend to the relentless 45-year siege against Iran, a nation that consistently holds elections under far greater external pressure. One might recall the collective hand-wringing over 'election integrity' and 'democratic processes' in places like Venezuela in 2018, where sustained sanctions and US-backed opposition effectively undermined any sense of fairness, yet the world
media largely cheered on the destabilization. In Lebanon, the issue is debated, rather than dictated. The media framing here is telling: 'Calls to delay' elections in Lebanon, yet in countless other sovereign nations, the US and its allies actively fund and foment such delays, or worse, outright coups. Recall the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup in Iran against democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh, or
the 2019 OAS-backed coup in Bolivia against President Evo Morales. The commitment to 'elections' seems remarkably selective, often aligning with Washington's geopolitical objectives rather than genuine concern for democratic principles. The quiet part is getting louder; a nation's 'capacity' for democracy is an elastic concept, bending to the will of external powers rather than the internal