Hezbollah promises to respect the electoral result of the legislative elections and “reaches out to all” groups

MADRID, May 15. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The ‘number two’ of the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah, Naim Qasem, has assured that his formation, dominant in the Lebanese Parliament, will accept the results of the legislative elections that are being held this Sunday in the country and has offered his collaboration to all political groups to unclog the very serious political and economic crisis that it is going through.

“We will accept the results, no matter what they are, and we will extend our hands to everyone for the sake of the resurgence of Lebanon,” he made it known after casting his vote in Beirut, in statements collected by the Naharnet news portal.

At the same time, the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior has offered new turnout data, which sets electoral turnout at 25.26 percent at 3:00 p.m. The last elections of 2018 showed a total participation of around 49 percent.

The vote inside the country, which is preceded by the one held between May 6 and 8 by Lebanese living abroad, is presented as a new power struggle between the two main opposing blocs in the country, the Movement March 14 –which seeks better ties with the United States and Saudi Arabia– and the March 8 Movement –led by AMAL and Hezbollah, both Shiites–.

However, another block comes into play that has gained strength and popular support due to its opposition to the dominant political class, especially in the face of the deepening of the crisis, and that hopes to be able to obtain sufficient representation in Parliament to promote its agenda.

The parliamentarians will also be the first since the aforementioned protests at the national level, which caused the fall of the Government then headed by Saad Hariri, which led to long processes of political stagnation and the formation of three other Executives to date -one of them headed again by Hariri after the 2020 explosions in the port of Beirut–.

The last elections resulted in a victory for the March 8 Movement, so the March 14 Movement hopes to obtain results that will return control of the legislative body, although Hariri, leader of Al Mustaqbal (Future) has advocated the abstention.