Lebanon has still failed to form a new government eight months after last May's parliamentary election, as rival groups from various political factions have conflicting demands over the distribution of cabinet seats.
The uncertainty has been dragging down Lebanon's economy and fears are arising about the state of the country's finances if the caretaker government fails to achieve the formation of a new administration by the end of January.
The latest statistics from the Ministry of Finance showed that Lebanon's public debt is now a worrying 150% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Government departments will be unable to make ends meet if a solution cannot be formed before the end of this month, according to the caretaker government's finance minister.
Facing this troubling situation, Lebanese citizens have expressed their hope that a new government can take shape soon.
"I think it's very important for our new government [to form]. Because like the electricity, the water, paying for rent, it's just the economy, in general, is going very downhill, and I think it needs to be solved," said Ali, a resident of Beirut.
Lebanon's political world is complicated by the fact that by law, its president, prime minister, and the speaker of its parliament represent each of the country's main ethno-religious groups: the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker is a Shiite Muslim.
The prime minister of the caretaker government Saad Hariri and his Future Movement party has the support of Saudi Arabia, as the major Sunni force in the country, while Shiite Hezbollah has Iran's support.
This complex domestic situation coupled with the difficulty of regional conflicts has obstructed the efforts to form a new government, according to Mohanad Hage Ali, a researcher from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Middle East Center. He said Lebanon's political circle also has divergent attitudes toward Syria, which is a problem the new government must solve.
"Now [Syria] is normalizing its relations with the Arab states. And Lebanon has to open up economically and forge special relations with Syria to help it in terms of its refugee problem and also to help it with the economic opening to the Arab world. So that is a very significant issue. And the Lebanese, they don't have a definitive answer," said Mohanad.
