Lebanon's divided parliament failed for the eighth time to elect a new president, extending a governance vacuum as the country experiences a devastating economic crisis.
Support for independent MP Michel Moawad was again outstripped by blank votes, with 52 to 37.
Two thirds of the vote in the 128-seat parliament are needed for a candidate to win in the first round, with an absolute majority required in subsequent rounds.
Some 111 MPs turned up to the session, with the high number of blank or protest votes indicates that a consensus figure is yet to emerge.
As has happened in recent sessions, some MPs wrote in mock choices on their ballots. On Thursday one vote was cast for Brazil's leftist president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while at last week's session another was given to Salvador Allende, the socialist President of Chile from 1970-1973.
Parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri called the next presidential session for next Thursday.
While Mr Moawad has been able to count on the support of a largely anti-Hezbollah bloc, including parliament's largest party, the Lebanese Forces, many see him as too divisive to achieve the vote threshold.
Hezbollah is the highly influential Lebanese armed group and political party that is backed by Iran.
“We cannot continue like this. Those who are waiting for regional and international agreements to elect a president are not aware of what the people are going through,” Mr Moawad said after the session.
The latest vote comes more than a month after former army general Michel Aoun left the presidential palace. It took 46 sessions and two and a half years to elect him in 2016, and that only after a series of back-door deals between key factions.
The cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been in caretaker status for months after a failure to agree on its make-up and is thus largely powerless.
In Lebanon's confessional system, the position of president is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the parliamentary speaker for a Shiite Muslim, and the prime minister's post for a Sunni Muslim.
Mr Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil has been talked of as a potential contender, as is Marada Movement leader Suleiman Frangieh, who is close to the Syrian regime and believed to be the candidate of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The governance vacuum is causing fears that reforms needed to secure a bailout from the International Monetary Fund will not be implemented.
Lebanon's economic collapse has been described by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history, with much of the population now living in poverty. The local currency has lost more than 95 per cent of its value, inflation is rampant and there are widespread shortages of electricity, clean water, medicines and other basic essentials.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
THREE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
