Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for June and which will essentially be a showdown between Hezbollah’s patrons in Damascus and Tehran and a coalition of pro-Western-or at any rate anti-Iranian-actors including Saudi Arabia, will likely hinge on who among the crowded field of foreign backers now pouring money into the country in support of candidates pays voters the most. “Votes are being bought with cash or in-kind services,” reports the New York Times. “Candidates pay their competitors huge sums to withdraw. The price of favorable TV news coverage is rising, and thousands of expatriate Lebanese are being flown home, free, to vote in contested districts.”
This would be the stuff of comedy, if it weren’t such a tragedy, especially with Hezbollah poised to win a majority.
