The country’s crises are many: a million Syrian refugees are straining public services; a shaky economy is increasingly teetering; garbage is piling up; fear is spreading of a new war between Hezbollah and Israel; and the political class has failed to find solutions.

But despite the country’s pride in being a rare Arab democracy, few expect the long-awaited elections to do much to solve its pressing problems.

“Is this going to bring a new government that is able to change things?” said Sami Atallah, the director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. “No, because we have a system that has successfully undermined all accountability mechanisms. As long as these are not in place, I can’t see how these politicians will be able to deliver to the people.”

Lebanon’s political system is an unwieldy compromise based on sect-based power sharing. Half the seats in Parliament are assigned to Christians and half to Muslims. Most parties are based on sect and their supporters look to them for protection and patronage more than for sound policies. Some are still led by warlords from the country’s 15-year civil war, or their offspring.

Since 2009, the government has collapsed twice and the country went without a president for more than two years because the factions could not agree on one.