With election fever yet to hit Lebanon, less than a year ahead of the 2013 parliamentary elections, the eyes of Lebanese and much of the Arab world were turned westward in recent weeks, toward two countries that hold particular geo-political significance on the world stage, and with whom Lebanon has a special historical, cultural, and emotional bond. Affectionately referred to as Umm el Hanouna and Umm el Dounya, the similarities in the recent presidential campaigns of both France and Egypt, respectively, are to a large extent limited to these terms of endearment. Though both countries adopt a two-round system of elections, with the top two runners-up in the first round facing each other in a second and final round and the president directly elected by universal suffrage, the fact that France has been honing its democracy for more than 200 years has clearly placed it at an advantage. This was
