hariri coalition

So it’s election day, in Beirut anyhow. Other parts of Lebanon are voting on future Sundays. Not surprisingly, pretty much everyone is voting for Saad Hariri’s coalition here. Before we moved, I had the impression that since these were the first free elections, that everyone would be voting and excited about it. However, even the Daily Star refers to them as “free” elections and a lot of people are boycotting. Many people aren’t seeing these elections as anything different, just because the Syrian soldiers are gone.

One of our landlords (like many, many people) has posters of Rafik Hariri all over his door and in his sitting room. I made a comment that he must like Hariri quite a bit, but his response: “Oh, he is okay.”

I haven’t been here long enough or talked to enough people to be able to give much good analysis of the political situation, though.