Struggling with a failing economy and underperforming or inadequate public services and divided over the not always welcome interference of two rival regional powers, many Lebanese hoped that elections in May 2018 (the first in almost a decade) might jolt the state's political establishment into addressing their many problems.
Others were more pessimistic, seemingly unconvinced that anything would change in a country where power is generally apportioned along sectarian or dynastic lines and corruption is widespread.