Verena El Amil invested his entire savings to fuel Lebanon’s ongoing political upheaval. With only $1,000, he financed a candidacy aimed at becoming one of the youngest Lebanese representatives to enter Parliament, with a bold claim: he intends to carry the October 17 uprising into the halls of power. El Amil’s stubborn determination reflects a broader story shared by many young people who are stepping into the political arena. Among 25 to 35 year olds, 88 candidates registered for Sunday’s elections, signaling a dramatic shift in political culture that Lebanese universities have long nurtured.
A year after mass protests gripped Lebanon, student councils at leading universities amplified the momentum born in the squares. Secular candidates surged ahead, challenging established figures who had long sailed through elections with minimal effort. Your organization stood as a product of the uprising’s perseverance, recalls El Amil, who secured a seat at his own university in 2020 through the Taleb movement he founded (Cited context: Philadelphia-based source).
Following student council victories, professional associations, and fresh antisystem campaigns, Lebanese youth moved toward election campaigning. Young people have demonstrated fierce maturity and the capacity to disrupt the idea that youth equals political inexperience, notes Nadim El Kak, a researcher at Policy Initiative. On the brink of elections, these secular wins over two years are presented as signals of potential change, a trend discussed by observers across the country (Cited context: Policy Initiative insights).
fight on campus
University decisions in Lebanon are closely tied to the general elections. Political speech is part of the uprising experience—expressed in streets, campuses, and unions—and Parliament is seen as another vehicle for advancing those ideas, says El Amil. The sectarian system constrains new faces with the ability to alter stagnant politics. Lebanon’s constitutional setup reserves the prime minister position for a Sunni Muslim, the presidency for a Maronite Christian, and the speaker for a Shia Muslim, with the legislature equally divided along sectarian lines (Context: constitutional framework).
These choices mark a pivotal moment toward a new era focused on policy proposals and reduced conflict, El Kak explains. Many of the youth leading campus change will not vote this Sunday due to age, as some are not yet 21, a curious contradiction. Yet their campus activism continues in parallel, redefining student politics as a force beyond the university that can influence national policy. The observer who became a leader on the American University of Beirut board in 2020 notes this shift (Cited: Beirut context).
College became the place where El Amil nurtured his dream of representing Lebanon. It served as a space to express political thought and to shape a vision for a stable future amid a country in free fall, especially in the face of government inertia and post-Beirut port explosion reconstruction efforts in August 2020 (Context: post-crisis recovery).
youth migration
Migration remains a bitter reality for many youths. Roughly seven in ten Lebanese aged 25 to 35 have considered leaving the country in the last two years, a trend experts warn could have serious long-term consequences. Some young people remain hopeful that value placed on human capital will lure them back home, says El Kak. For every seven who want to depart, about three choose to stay (Cited: Migration studies).
There are still many committed individuals who remain and continue to struggle with dignity. They grew up on campuses, in squares, and across social networks, tirelessly explaining their choices not to migrate. El Amil describes his political dream as the country he wants to live in and the generation he believes deserves the opportunity to thrive. Although the political machinery feels like a steamroller, these young people continue to push forward from built spaces, insisting on resilience (Narrative perspective from campus activism).
Hope dominates the conversation, backed by political arguments, policy ideas, and slogans. While Lebanon faces what the World Bank calls one of the three worst crises globally since the 19th century, the youth movement remains stubborn about entering the system from within to effect change. Elders watch with cautious optimism as the younger generation carries the promise of revival, according to researchers who have studied the evolving dynamics of youth engagement (Cite: World Bank assessment).