Saad Hariri’s departure is unlikely to persuade the demonstrators to end their campaign
AFTER nearly two weeks of nationwide protests, the demonstrators in Lebanon claimed their first scalp. On October 29th the prime minister, Saad Hariri, said he had reached a “dead end” trying to deal with their demands over corruption and the stagnant economy. A package of meagre reforms, announced on October 21st, satisfied no one. So Mr Hariri said he was stepping down, along with his government. “It has become necessary for us to make a great shock to fix the crisis,” he said.
A rotten political system is at the heart of Lebanon’s problems. The agreement that ended the country’s civil war in 1990 created a sectarian power-sharing arrangement that remains in place today. Government posts and public-sector jobs are divvied up among Sunnis, Shias and Christians—regardless of merit. Former warlords still hold sway, hogging government contracts. Many fear that the resignation of Mr Hariri, a Sunni, will merely exacerbate sectarian tensions.
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