Lebanese democracy is not yet the finished article, even if Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, who showed what can happen when a capable technocrat is given a chance to shine, pulled off a stunning display of public administration. If the Lebanese are to move forward into full democratic maturity, genuine leaders must step forward and they must offer solutions to issues, not play on fear or religious identity. There are 128 precious seats in parliament and if we are to be honest, our best and brightest are, with a few exceptions, still not lining up to stake a claim to shaping the future.
 
Meanwhile, those who did not perform as well at the polls as they would have liked – for it seems no one actually “loses” in these elections – must get out of the habit of throwing out excuses to muddy the political waters ahead of the formation of a new government.
 
On Monday night, no doubt in a bid to console his obedient electorate, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah argued that there was a “popular” majority as well as a parliamentary majority, implying that their sheer numbers gave Lebanon’s Shia an automatic mandate. His logic: the Shia have the majority and Hezbollah have the Shia, ergo they cannot be ignored. Such number crunching is dangerous, especially in these times of religious volatility. Lebanon is too modern a country, its make-up too diverse, its people too worldly and too educated to fall into such a primitive mindset.
 
But at least Nasrallah had the grace to concede a “parliamentary” defeat and not throw his toys out of his pram. The same cannot be said for his political ally, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who has been trying his best to convince us that, despite claiming to have been robbed in the Metn – he cited “corruption,” “kidnapping,” and “money” as three reasons for not getting the magic 30 seats he wanted – he too had secured a “popular majority.” He also says that his party has 4,000 complaints about violations of the electoral law and the Media and Publications Law. So there!
 
The truth of the matter is that Aoun, paradoxically, has as much power today as he ever had, despite an obvious shift in Christian attitudes to him. His posturing has more to do with securing a presence in the next government – he wants seven out of the 30 ministerial portfolios allocated to the FPM – than any outrage over alleged illegalities. As one analyst put it, these were hardly “Swedish elections.” The FPM played the game like everyone else, including jetting-in voters from overseas.
 
And so Aoun, while moaning that he can’t understand why so many people voted for March 14, a bloc he claims is corrupt and unfocussed, with no apparent blueprint for reform, hammers away with a conspiracy theory involving Palestinian weapons in the camp, naturalization,  “moving” voters into key areas and March 14’s use of the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons a diversionary tactic. “Their only aim is to approve naturalization, and for that reason, they are directing the Lebanese’s attention away from the issue through emphasizing Hezbollah’s weapons and the threats against the Lebanese entity,” he said.
 
The simple answer is that the majority of Lebanese voted against him and his allies because they can see that the weapons in the Palestinian camps, while a long-entrenched thorn in Lebanon’s side, do not threaten to derail a democratic process so-assuredly ignited on Sunday, nor for that matter are they part of a regional master plan with potentially apocalyptic consequences.
 
Privately, Aoun knows the difference, but he is determined to drive a wedge into the country to achieve his own political ends. So far he has failed, succeeding only in hijacking the dreams and aspirations of his followers, the majority of whom are decent, law abiding Lebanese seeking an alternative voice.
 
And this is also why Aoun didn’t, and now surely never will, receive an overwhelming vote of confidence from the nation. Time will tell, but it is also why we should ultimately be more wary of the thoughtful and measured Hassan Nasrallah than the raving general.