BEIRUT: Lebanon lacks vital elements of a true democracy, former Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss has said in response to a speech made by the president Friday.
“We differ with the president on this stance. Lebanon appears to have democracy but it does not practice true democracy. Democracy requires distinctive features to exist,” Hoss said in a statement Saturday.
President Michel Sleiman said Friday that Lebanon was a unique consensual democracy which protected people’s rights to political participation. He added that although Lebanon was a democratic republic based on the respect of public freedoms and the rotation of power, the process of state-building was still facing difficulties.
Hoss said that there were two distinctive features of democracy, representation and accountability and both were absent in Lebanon.
“Political money plays a vital role in parliamentary elections, bribing voters, media outlets and everything else that might affect election outcome,” Hoss said, adding that corruption was also rampant in public administrations and in politics.
“Lebanon still lacks minimal democratic practice and developing such a practice should be the first aim of any efforts to reform, which has now become a necessity,” Hoss said.
Lebanon has been under a caretaker government for four months following the collapse of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s cabinet. On Jan. 25, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati was appointed by Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance to form a new Cabinet.