Qifa Nabki
Michel Aoun
The Magic Number (or, “Who Will Win Lebanon’s Elections, part 2”)
I was thinking yesterday about the likely makeup of the next parliament, in the event of an opposition win. The question that came to mind was: “How many seats does the Change & Reform bloc need to win in order to push the opposition over the 64-seat mark?” For the past several months, polls published … Continue reading
Deals, deals, deals…
Deal 1: The General’s Return I’ve been reading Karim Pakradouni’s recently published history of the Lahoud presidency (Sadma wa Sumud: ‘Ahd Imil Lahhud, 1998-2007), and I recommend it to anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes peek at Lebanese politics from the perspective of a consummate insider. I’ll mention one anecdote by way of an endorsement. Toward … 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
Aoun on Kalam al-Nas
Marcel Ghanem interviewed Michel Aoun last night on his popular talk show, Kalam al-Nas. The general was his regular fiery self, but plain were the signs of campaign fatigue: bags under the eyes, thinning hair, and a sallow complexion. Marcel, meanwhile, was in rare form, tugging at every loose thread and goading the FPM chief … 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
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…