Lebanon Holds First Election in Nine Years

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Low turnout has marred Lebanon's first parliamentary poll since 2009. The BBC's Carine Torbey explains the issues motivating voters at the ballot box. How can a country with one of the largest debt piles in the world get its house in order while fostering economic growth? Jihad El Hokayem, an economist at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, says the country must urgently tackle unemployment. It's been eight years since Greece asked for the eurozone's biggest ever bail-out. But the past decade has been characterised by recession, unemployment and ballooning debt. We ask professor Michael Arghyrou at Cardiff Business School if the country will ever escape its crisis. And, as actors, directors and celebrities descend upon the French Riviera this week for the start of the Cannes film festival, we ask if it is becoming out of step with the rest of the industry. Picture: A woman casts her vote in Lebanon's first legislative election in nine years at a polling station in Zahle (Credit: HAITHAM MOUSSAWI/AFP/Getty Images).