Qifa Nabki
Lebanese elections
Hizbullah Announces Candidate Lists
Update: (Spoke too soon, see below for revised conclusions.) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared on al-Manar this evening to announce Hizbullah’s candidates for the 2009 parliamentary elections. Here is the list and some quick reactions: Nabatiyeh: MP Muhammad Raad; Sour: MP Muhammad Fneish, Nawwaf al-Moussawi; Bint Jbeil: MP Hassan Fadlallah; Marjayoun: Ali Fayyad; Baalbek-Hermel: Husayn Moussawi, … Continue reading
Polls Show FPM’s Support Slipping in Metn
Lebanese daily As-Safir (which leans towards the opposition) has a very interesting analysis of the results of a poll conducted by Information International (the premier polling organization in Lebanon [see their blog here]). On the face of it, it seems to suggest that Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and its allies are more popular than … Continue reading
Those Cheeky Aounists…
Update: (See below for insight on the source of the original billboards) Those of you living in Lebanon have probably seen the strange billboards cropping up all over the place, picturing flags of various Middle Eastern countries with the title: al-arqaam ablagh min al-kalaam (more or less, “numbers speak louder than words”). Diamond had a … Continue reading
Vetoing the Veto
What can be read into Saad al-Hariri’s decision to not join a national unity government in the event that Hizbullah and its allies come to power in the June elections? Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, Hariri reiterated his earlier stance on the matter, saying: “It is my democratic right not to take part in such … Continue reading
March 14th’s Blahbitty-Blah-Blah Electoral Program
March 14th launched its electoral campaign on March 14th with a big convention in which the coalition’s 14 leaders unveiled the 14 points of their electoral program. This was preceded by a spectacular circus act in which 14 jugglers rode around on 14-foot tall unicycles juggling 14 flaming cedar branches while Sami Gemayel’s gnarley math … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…