JAFFA, Israel – Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, and the frontrunner in the country’s next presidential elections, suffered an embarrassment on Sunday when it turned out that his vote in the Beirut local elections will not be counted.
On Sunday, Hariri, the chairman of Al Mustaqbal movement and son of assassinated Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, visited several polling stations in the Beirut area. His party won a majority in the capital, but it later emerged that it wasn’t thanks to him: The polling station he voted at wasn’t the one in which he was registered and his vote was therefore disqualified.
Hariri, Hezbollah’s most powerful rival, became the target of a great deal of ridicule. The hashtag #lets_mock_hariri was the most popular in Lebanon on Sunday, and attracted much criticism from Hezbollah supporters, which was directed at Hariri himself and Saudi Arabia, his patron.
“It’s natural that he won’t find his way, because there’s no such thing as polling stations in Saudi Arabia,” Omar tweeted.
Amer retorted: “Breaking News: Earthquake in Beirut? No, it’s just Rafik al Hariri banging his head against his headstone out of embarrassment.”
Ali commented with sharp irony: “Of course, it happened because of Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria.”
“Whenever we’re prepared to forget one of your idiocies, a new one comes,” Hiba wrote of Hariri, and added a joke: “One man warned his wife against going to the wrong polling station. She answered: What do you take me for, an idiot like Hariri?”
“He looked so happy after voting in the wrong place,” Lama wrote. “I wonder what it would be like if he voted at the right place.”
“Rafik al Hariri is now swearing to the angels that his son Saad got his stupidity from his mother’s side,” Kareem wrote.
“Leave him alone,” Hashem wrote. “Next time we’ll have to hit him with a shoe to avoid confusion.”