BEIRUT: Lebanese voters went to the polls to elect their parliament for the first time in nine years Sunday, with ruling parties expected to preserve a fragile power-sharing arrangement despite regional tensions. "I've come to support civil society because there's nobody else I like in this country, but I doubt they will win," she said. In the southern city of Tyre, 28-year-old Jalal Naanou was also up early to support an unprecedented effort by civil society candidates to bring new faces to parliament. Turnout will be crucial to a new civil society movement's chances of clinching a handful of seats but analysts predict the traditional sectarian-based parties will maintain their hegemony. The force that embodies change is an alliance called "Kulluna Watani" which federates civil society groups, including a movement born of 2015 protests over a waste management crisis.

Source: Bangkok Post May 06, 2018 05:03 UTC