Mirna Michel El-Murr may have been re-elected president of the Union of Northern Metn Municipalities, but the reality beneath the surface tells a very different story. In truth, the presidency appears largely symbolic, being a front for an entrenched power structure. The real authority, as ever, remains in the hands of former Minister Elias El-Murr, who continues to pull the strings from behind the scenes, leveraging deep-rooted influence and a tightly woven web of interests.

This unofficial but dominant grip on the union has weighed heavily on its performance. For years, the union has failed to deliver any meaningful achievements that would justify the scale of the resources allocated or the expectations tied to its role in driving local development. Major projects backed by large budgets have either remained on paper or been executed in flawed and ineffective ways.

Rather than becoming a model for good local governance, Northern Metn has turned into a testing ground for ad hoc policies and repeated failures. No progress has been made in renewable energy investment. No real support has been provided to bolster infrastructure. No serious initiatives have been proposed to tap into the region’s natural and financial potential. The union has not taken steps to establish joint solar power plants, nor has it offered support to municipalities transitioning toward clean energy. Meanwhile, other municipal unions across the country have achieved tangible results with smaller budgets and clearer political will.

Adding to the underperformance is a deeply concerning lack of transparency. Annual budgets and expenditures are neither published nor made accessible to citizens or municipal stakeholders, fueling legitimate questions about the union's management of public funds. Just as troubling is the absence of internal accountability mechanisms. A culture of personal control dominates the union’s work, and the current leadership continues to operate with a top-down mindset that resists both change and criticism. Positions are tightly guarded, competition is sidelined, and appointments continue to be handed out through uncontested endorsements.

The challenges in Northern Metn go far beyond electoral calculations. The district is beset by chronic development issues that highlight structural dysfunction, not just problematic names. For instance, the wastewater treatment plants: over $1.4 billion has been spent on facilities that are either non-functional or operating at a fraction of their capacity. Meanwhile, untreated sewage continues to flow into rivers and the sea, thus reflecting the absence of planning, management, and accountability.

Then there’s the waste management crisis, which has grown into a disaster of its own. The lack of coordination between the union and municipalities has created widespread administrative and environmental confusion, leaving the region entirely incapable of adopting a comprehensive, sustainable solution. The result? Northern Metn remains mired in its garbage crisis.

Instead of being a vehicle for development, transparency, and achievement, the Union of Northern Metn Municipalities has become a mirror of Lebanon’s broader local governance crisis. Resources are managed without vision. Money is spent without results. Oversight and citizen participation are shut out completely. And in the end, it’s the people who pay the price as they endure deteriorating living conditions, environmental degradation, and a bleak outlook for their communities.

In such a climate, change isn’t just important; it’s vital to the survival of municipal governance as a tool for the public good, not a servant to narrow private interests.

That status quo was challenged for the first time when Nicole Gemayel, mayor of Bikfaya-Mhaydseh, announced her candidacy for the union’s presidency, backed by the Kataeb Party. Her run was more than a bid for office; it was a political challenge to the dominant model of governance and a push to restore institutional standards to municipal work, away from favoritism and entrenched loyalties.

The Kataeb Party, grounded in a long-standing tradition of principled struggle, insisted on breaking the cycle of uncontested appointments that has defined previous elections. The party framed this race not simply as a matter of municipal representation, but as part of a larger battle over the meaning of local governance and the tools used to achieve it.