[1] Government officials reportedly often award contracts to friends and family leading to many of the country's problems like daily power cuts.
Many working class Lebanese citizens rely on economic assistance from their party which stops them from speaking up against the system or bring them to justice, despite widespread opposition.
As in many neighboring countries, using personal family and party connections to get favors like skipping a long queue, getting into a selective institution, or finding a job; known locally as wasta; is common practice and has become the social norm.
[13] With 40% of the votes, it forced the March 14 Alliance and the March 8 Alliance, historical opponents, to form a coalition in order to win[14] In July 2020, Lebanese company ZR Energy was indicted, as it had imported contaminated fuel from Algerian company Sonatrach, which costed $2bn worth of fuel deliveries per year.
[20] Domestic investigations into the explosion have been repeatedly delayed, obstructed and blocked by Hezbollah leaders, by threatening the presiding judge and orchestrating political manipulations.