What Next For Hezbollah in Lebanon?

By midnight June 8, as it became increasingly clear that the March 14 coalition had retained its majority, a stubborn disbelief prevailed in Hizbullah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut. "No, it's impossible that they won. It's still too soon to tell," one Hizbullah supporter insisted.

By the next morning, however, the results had been confirmed: the final tally gave the March 14 bloc 69 seats in the 128-seat Parliament along with two allied independents to the opposition's 57. For an election that was the closest-fought in more than three decades - the results of which had been impossible to predict with any certainty right up until the 7:00 a.m. opening of the polling stations - it was a significant victory for March 14.