"Can we confess now that clearing the house of corruption and holding corrupters to account is the number one popular demand of any candidate to the presidency?" -- Raouf Tawfiq, Al-Ahali "Simply all our elections [throughout history] have been forged. And there are schools regarding such forgery and each school has its experts and our history is full of stories and anecdotes regarding [this state of affairs]." -- Rifaat Rashad, Al-Masri Al-Youm "[In a 1970s Egyptian movie about a single mother and her five children] the children confess that their mother is the best person to represent them. We are now living the same experience [as the children in the film]... we want Mubarak." -- Khadija Afifi, Al-Akhbar "It is not a simple matter for the Lebanese to wake up and discover that four generals were brought in one day as suspects in a murder case [even if a verdict has not been passed]." -- Ghassan Charbel, Al-Hayat "I see no valid reason for him [Lahoud] to remain in office. Given the national consensus against his rule, he ought to resign, as he knows his ascension to power was due to Syrian pressure and not a local decision." -- Ahmed Al-Rabei, Asharq Al-Awsat "If they [the generals] were involved in the assassination with his [Lahoud's] knowledge then he will face detention. If they did it without his knowledge, which is very possible, it means he was a powerless façade." -- Al-Quds Al-Arabi
