This is it

Salim Hoss, his face filled with a look of rejection, conceded defeat even before the final election results were in. A five-time head of government, Hoss was the first Lebanese prime minister ever to lose his seat in parliament, and defeated by a large margin. On the other side of West Beirut, at the Koraytem palace, the mood was decidedly different. A festive Rafic Hariri could be seen kissing babies, shaking hands and sharing laughs with his allies in victory. The victory was an unprecedented landslide. After two years of desperation and hopelessness, the message was clear. The Lebanese population was fed up; people wanted to hope again. “The people of the nation began to feel that this is a very impotent government,” says Marwan Iskandar, an economist. “This kind of atmosphere without a doubt encourages people to call on Hariri.” With his clean sweep in Beirut and strong showing