Qifa Nabki
Lebanese elections
One Size Fits All
A friend recently drew my attention to a fascinating and rather addictive website called Vote Match For Lebanon, designed by Nahar al-Shabab. The site takes the form of an online survey meant to help people figure out which Lebanese party best suits their political positions. The survey contains twenty-six statements and you have the option … Continue reading
Lessons in Medieval Campaign Finance Law
Conspiracy Chronicles series, no. 5 We are frequently told that these elections are the most expensive, per capita, in the history of the universe. Recently, I asked an opposition MP running for re-election how much he was spending on billboards and TV appearances. “Well, I just can’t afford to spend the kind of money that … Continue reading
Pollsters Predict Lebanese Election Results
We’re less than four weeks away from the elections, and al-Akhbar has done us a service by aggregating the predictions of four prominent Lebanese pollsters: Jawad Adra, Abdo Saad, Rabih al-Hibr, and Kamal Feghali. Here’s a summary of the article. All four experts agree that the following districts are sewn up. For the majority: Akkar, … Continue reading
Showdown in Jezzine
I’ve got to hand it to General Aoun. He’s made one district in southern Lebanon worth watching… By now, most will have heard about the unusual arrangement arrived at by Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement over the Christian district of Jezzine. After weeks (and weeks and weeks) of negotiations, Aoun announced that he couldn’t … Continue reading
Electing Resistance | Resisting Elections
In a recent piece in the Jerusalem Post, Gary Gambill addresses the issue of how Hizbullah might be compelled to abandon its resistance, concluding that there is no such thing as a “disarm Hizbullah quick” scheme. None of the standard proposals (coercive pressure, aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces, removing the territorial and security-related pretexts … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…