Qifa Nabki
Elections
Lebanese 2009 Election Reports
The National Democratic Institute has released its report on the Lebanese parliamentary elections of 2009. (Download a PDF in English or Arabic.) See if you can spot this blog in the footnotes. The EU Observation Mission released its report (pdf) back in October; the Carter Center has yet to publish a final report. It now … Continue reading
Giving Expats the Vote: No Real Impact on “Sectarian Balance”?
It’s a little bit cheeky to have another post on the meaninglessness of proposed electoral reforms when we just got done discussing lowering the voting age, but I think this is worth discussing. ElectionGuerilla makes the point succinctly: It’s helpful if we recognize that many of the arguments related to the debate on electoral reform … Continue reading
Lowering the Voting Age: No Real Impact on Percentage of Christian/Muslim Voters?
So, as is well-known, many Christians in Lebanon are worried about lowering the voting age to 18, because they think that this will swell the ranks of Muslim voters in a disproportionate way. Or so say Abu Michel and Abu Samir… However, an informed reader of Qifa Nabki has made an astute intervention that busts … Continue reading
Charbel Nahas: The FPM’s Secret Weapon?
For a period of a couple months, the cabinet formation was help up by a dispute about the appointment of Gebran Bassil — Michel Aoun’s son-in-law — as Telecommunications Minister. Aoun wanted him re-appointed; Saad Hariri did not. Eventually, a compromise was reached: the FPM was allowed to keep the Telecommunications Ministry as long as … Continue reading
Who Won?
I wasn’t really planning to write a post on this subject, but since people like winners and losers, maybe it’s worth saying something. One commenter writes: I’d be interested to read your analysis on who you think “won” from this cabinet haggling/negotiation. Do you think by holding out so long and getting more or less … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…