It's almost final. As expected, Hariri won in the North, giving him a majority of the seats in parliament.

The elections weren't too pretty and there have been a lot of accusations of corruption.

At this point, we need to leave this behind and work TOGETHER for a stronger Lebanon. The stress and uncertainty of the elections are over, it's time to get to work. The "to do" list is long. Here are a few (in no particular order):

- finding a solution as far as Hezbollah’s arms

- finding a solution regarding Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

- stimulating our economy to attract tourists, investors and create more jobs

- normalizing our relationship with Syria

- creating a new and fair electoral law

Questions left unanswered:

- Will Lahoud be kicked out? Jumblatt stated the he will leave that decision up to Sfeir. That doesn’t make sense! Why should it be Sfeir’s decision to make? The people elected YOU not Sfeir, so don’t try to avoid talking responsibilities and decision-making!

- Will Hariri or Mikati be PM? If Hariri is appointed, will he turn it down and let Mikati take the position? If Hariri becomes PM, will he be up to the task with his small amount of experience?

Even though Aoun did not win the majority, Hariri would be wise to consider some of the items on his agenda. An important one, which a lot of politicians have made sure to avoid is the issue of separation of religion and state. A lot of politicians are cowards when it comes to that. They may be afraid to lose the support of religious leaders. However, how will our country advance and change without a secular state? We need this to become modern, united free and equal.  Another important point made by Aoun, which politicians shy from (no wonder) is the issue of corruption. We need transparent government finances to decrease corruption. Since like 99.9% (this is not an official statistic by the way ;) are corrupt, of course they don't want to talk about it. But again, how can we advance if we continue to have a corrupt government and corrupt people. Equality starts with transparency. No more "wastas", no more stealing money. Politicians need to be accountable to the people who voted for them.

Yup, there's a lot of work to do. We are a long ways away from a remotely "decent" country but we need to keep trying. With a little faith and a lot of determination, anything is possible!