The further Beirut night progressed on Monday, the brighter the mood of opponents of the corrupt Lebanese power cartel.

Because according to the results of the parliamentary elections, which gradually became public, the number of their seats kept increasing.

When there was some clarity about the outcome on Tuesday, an opposition member wrote in even clearer English and in capital letters how he sees the situation: "Fucking fantastic." It had just become known that 16 independent anti-establishment candidates were entering parliament had done.

There were also a few candidates from established parties who presented themselves as credible reformists.

Christopher Ehrhardt

Correspondent for the Arab countries based in Beirut.

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Considering the total of 128 seats and the disastrous situation in which the country finds itself, this may not seem like a "fantastic" result.

But measured against the Lebanese conditions, that's a success.

The system of proportional representation, which allocates parliamentary seats to the country's various population groups – Christians, Druze, Sunni and Shiite Muslims – encourages clientelism.

The electoral law makes it easy for the incumbents to share parliamentary seats among themselves.

The fact that a visible number of independent MPs have now been able to move in is a clear sign that many voters – especially the young ones – are concerned with programs and not appanages.

The election result is a major setback for the Shiite organization Hizbullah, which is sponsored by Iran.

Contrary to widespread expectations, your camp has lost the majority in Parliament.

Their leader, Nasrallah, had explicitly declared the election to be a vote on the organization's weapons, which are officially only intended to fight Israel, but are in fact always aimed at internal opponents.

The election has now shown that the majority of the Lebanese reject the dominance of Hezbollah and the turning to Iran.

Among the Christian deputies, the “Forces Libanaises” became the strongest force in parliament.

During the election campaign they presented themselves as an anti-Hizbullah bulwark.

The "Free Patriotic Movement" of President Michel Aoun and his widely hated son-in-law Gebran Bassil, both Hezbollah allies, suffered losses.

In addition, several notoriously corrupt local princes, who acted as Hizbullah's vicarious agents – and who seemed inevitable for a long time – were ousted by independent candidates.

These were not Shiite seats.

But their losses sent a painful message for Hizbullah: the organization, which is actually working to exert influence beyond its own population group, has largely been thrown back on its core Shia clientele.

And even with that, the tightly controlled Hezbollah has had its problems.

Incredulous frustration and tensions were growing in their bastions on Monday night.

The army was deployed in large numbers, just in case.

Tanks had parked at many of Beirut's intersections.

Elite forces secured areas of Beirut where traditional lines of conflict between communities run.

It became clear on Tuesday that politicians should actually have other concerns.

Gasoline prices rose while the national currency fell again.