The political rhetoric in Lebanon ahead of the parliamentary elections has reached very low levels, as accusations of treason and insults became the politicians’ weapons to attract voters. Comments made by Interior Minister Nouhad El-Machnouk on Friday have sparked a wave of reactions on social media and stirred a trade of insults between supporters and opponents. Machnouk was holding a meeting with members of his electoral campaign in Beirut when he said: “Hezbollah, Amal, Al-Ahbash, and the scum on top which adds up to 45, 000 voters,” in reference to his electoral opponents. A violent campaign emerged against Machnouk, also affecting the Future Movement, which seemed embarrassed by the minister’s statements, but did not issue and clarification or apology to ease the resentment in the streets. However, an official in the Future Movement’s electoral campaign told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the electoral apparatus was not logistically affected by the words of Machnouk”. “Slander campaigns that came from the other side were harsh, and our figures were attacked in a very negative way, so the abuse was not unilateral,” the official said. Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah adopted a more aggressive approach in pushing his constituency to elect his candidates by describing his opponents as followers of ISIS and Al-Nusra Front. In January, a leaked video of the President of the Free Patriotic Movement, Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, describing Speaker Nabih Berri as a “thug”, angered supporters of the Amal Movement, who blocked the roads and attacked the FPM office in the Sin El Fil area, east of Beirut. This situation led to a political crisis in the country. The ministers of Amal threatened to resign from the government but President Michel Aoun intervened and met with Berri at the Presidential Palace, expressing his rejection to harming the image of the speaker.