Political coalitions have broken tradition in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections this year, and the requirements for this long-awaited event and the “preferential vote” have forced a radical change in electoral campaigns.
The social media plays a key role in driving politicians out of their traditional image, such as a video widely circulated on Wednesday of Hezbollah MP Nawaf al-Moussawi, dancing among women and men at an election rally in his southern town.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri is among the politicians who are frequently seen on social media during this elections period, while his team has created a special application to allow his supporters to upload “selfies” with the premier.
He also appeared in electoral tours sitting on the top of cars, taking pictures with the Future Movement supporters, or even drenched in Qalamoun, when the people of the area chose to welcome him with rose water, while throwing rice was another means of welcoming the premier in the towns of Bekaa and the North.
Meanwhile, Hariri’s call on his supporters in Batroun (North Lebanon) to give their preferential vote to the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, has sparked a wave of angry reactions, especially among the Sunni community in the North.
During a visit to Batroun on Monday evening, Hariri urged the Sunnis in Batroun to give their preferential vote to “my friend Gebran”, while telling the foreign minister: “Look at this time when you and I have become allies and are promoting each other…”
The Lebanese Forces party put Hariri’s recent statements in the context of a new alliance between the Future Movement and the FPM, which began to take shape during the elections.
An LF official told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We know in advance that there is some kind of a new alliance between the two movements, and Hariri’s words provide the greatest evidence of this shift in the policy of the two groups.”
Hariri’s public and explicit support for Bassil revealed a deep crisis between the FPM and the Sunni street, especially in northern Lebanon, as thousands of comments invaded the social media, especially from the community in Batroun and Koura, who accuse Bassil of deliberately marginalizing them.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Future Movement MP Mustafa Alloush acknowledged the resentment of the North Sunnis against Hariri, saying that each region had its own specificities and electoral considerations.
“The problem lies in the name of Gebran Bassil, and its bad impact on the Sunni street in general and the Future supporters in particular,” Alloush said, pointing out however that the Sunni street recognized the presence of a strategic choice made by Hariri with the FPM on the upcoming period and the means to build a state.
“Waging war on all political forces does not build a homeland,” he explained.
