Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hizbullah must be part of the next government in Lebanon, regardless of who wins the election.
During an electoral rally via video link this Tuesday, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized that his party should be an active part of any future government in Lebanon.
Hizbullah chief also asserted that regardless of who wins the parliamentary majority in Lebanon, the country cannot be ruled unilaterally. “We will keep insisting on being present in any government, regardless of its nature, structure, and program, in order to protect the resistance’s back,” Nasrallah said.
He also added that “Lebanon cannot bear a leading sect nor a leading party, no matter how much this party may enjoy the strength and popular support.”
It was on this Sunday that Lebanese expats cast their ballots in dozens of other countries in early voting for the May 15 parliamentary elections. The ballots are expected to be transferred to Lebanon and be kept in the country’s national bank until May 15.
Lebanese expats living in 10 countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, voted on Friday. The diaspora living in 48 other countries did this two day later on Sunday.
Lebanon’s 2022 parliamentary elections are the first vote since the beginning of the economic crisis and the tragic 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Participation in this year’s election was way more than in the last election which was held back in 2018. A total of 244,442 Lebanese abroad registered to cast their ballots this year. it was more than double the number of expats who signed up to vote in the 2018 parliamentary vote.
Overseas Lebanese population constitutes only 6 per cent of the eligible people for voting in this country. However, this small number could still play a pivotal role in this year’s election as opposition groups seek to challenge established parties.
According to figures released by the NNA, the highest voter turnout was in Iran — 65.73 per cent.
The parliamentary elections are held every four years in Lebanon, with seats allocated for its wide array of sects under its fragile sectarian power-sharing system. It is worth mentioning here that Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament is currently dominated by the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its allies, which won a majority in the 2018 elections.
Lebanon still volatile
The economic crisis in Lebanon is serious and unbearable. An estimated 300,000 people have left the country in just two years after the economic situation in Lebanon began getting worse and worse.
The figure, most experts believe, would have been higher if it was not for the coronavirus pandemic which made traveling overseas more difficult. The crisis has also left more than three quarters of the whole Lebanese population in sheer poverty.
This year’s parliamentary election is the first major electoral test since a youth-led protest movement of October 2019 in Lebanon vented its rage at the country’s entrenched political class.
Nasrallah also noted in his speech that Lebanon cannot bear a new civil war, even for changing the political system; “Civil war should be a prohibited red line. There are problems and flaws in this system that must be addressed through reform,” Nasrallah added.
Denying that his party is subordinate to Iran, Nasrallah further said: “We are neither tools nor agents nor chess pieces. The Islamic Republic does not interfere in Lebanon, neither in politics nor in elections, and you have seen which ambassadors are touring Lebanon.”
