As polling day has drawn nearer, however, it has become increasingly likely that the result will reaffirm the status quo of a powerful, elite-run patronage network with entrenched channels of influence. For opponents of prime minister Saad Hariri’s government, this spells trouble. That means a showdown, in some form, between two rival blocs that emerged after the assassination of the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, at a campaign rally in the northern town of Deniyeh. In late 2017 Saudi leaders, who until then had been Hariri’s patrons, summoned the prime minister to Riyadh and told him to resign.

Source: The Guardian May 05, 2018 07:52 UTC