Nasrallah: Elections Must Happen on Time, Proportionality is the Best Law
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called for holding “further dialogue” over the issue of the upcoming parliamentary elections, noting that an electoral law based on proportional representation would be the best for the country.
“The electoral law is an issue that deserves our patience and time and I hope the doors will not be closed in the face of any plan or idea. We stress the importance of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon,” said Nasrallah in a televised speech marking the completion of the Waad Project for the reconstruction of buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs that were razed by Israeli attacks during the 2006 war.
“We call for further dialogue over the issue of elections and we are with holding the polls on time,” Nasrallah added.
He noted that ahead of a recent visit to Lebanon by Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, who met with the March 14 forces and MP Walid Jumblat, “we witnessed a campaign saying that no elections will be held in the presence of arms, but after his visit the campaign stopped.”
Nasrallah stressed that “the weapons that can affect the elections are the individual firearms and all parties have such weapons.”
“Any electoral law would preserve the size of Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc,” Nasrallah boasted.
“At the national level and if we want all segments of society to be represented in parliament and if we want to be fair and just, a law based on proportional representation would be the best because it would not eliminate anyone,” he said.
Hizbullah’s leader noted that a proportional representation system would “end unilateralism inside each sect.”
He accused former premier Saad Hariri’s Mustaqbal Movement of “insisting on unilateralism in the Sunni community.”
Hitting back at Hariri over his recent speech marking the May 7, 2008 clashes, Nasrallah said “this issue is being used by political parties in Lebanon for incitement because it has a sectarian aspect.”
“We have not responded because we are keen on calm in the country, not because we are weak. We are keen to prevent anyone from dragging the country into a sectarian atmosphere. But we have our documents which can demonstrate what was being plotted in Beirut back then,” Nasrallah went on to say.
“We know that a Shiite-Sunni strife was being plotted and we have the information to prove that,” he noted.
Nasrallah said his party and its allies “thwarted civil strife and preserved the resistance.”
“We presented martyrs. We did all that to prevent civil strife. We did not target any sect and we were very keen on closing the wounds,” he added.
Nasrallah stressed that the May 7 clashes were not between Sunnis and Shiites, “but rather between members of various factions and the Mustaqbal Movement.”
“Let us not use the (May 7) events in debates that would harm the country and let us preserve our country's safety and security,” he added.
“We have not and will not resort to weapons and we call for a political process in Lebanon that is based on real partnership,” said Nasrallah.
Turning to the issue of the Syrian crisis, Nasrallah accused the U.S., Israel and some Arab states of stoking "terrorism" in Syria.
"Who wants the destruction of Syria? America and Israel and some Arab countries," said Nasrallah.
"They want to destroy Syria because it is the main ally of the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine."
Condemning deadly twin blasts that killed dozens and injured hundreds in Damascus on Thursday, Nasrallah criticized the Syrian opposition over its accusation that President Bashar Assad's regime was behind the attacks.
The explosions, the Hizbullah chief added, were proof that Syria risks descending into an abyss similar to Iraq.
"The Syrian people are at a crossroads," Nasrallah said, adding that one path leads to "reform", and the other to "destruction."
Hizbullah has steadfastly expressed its support for Assad's regime since the outbreak of an uprising in March last year.
Recalling the 2006 war with Israel, Nasrallah said “the objective of the July War was to crush the Resistance and subjugate Lebanon as part of preparing the ground in the region for the creation of the New Middle East.”
“In the face of this devastating war, there was confrontation and resistance, military and psychological resistance, and there was ‘the war of reconstruction, survival and steadfastness,’” he added.
“The same as we celebrated the major divine victory in Dahiyeh on Sep. 22, 2006, today we are celebrating the triumph of the will to life,” Nasrallah said, addressing thousands of Hizbullah supporters who gathered for the rally in Dahiyeh.
“By insisting on the reconstruction of their homes, the owners of residential units across Lebanon, especially in Dahiyeh, had chosen to live and die in their own land,” Hizbullah’s leader said.
“I salute the souls of the martyrs of the July War. Hadn't it been for their blood, there would not have been survival and achievements,” he added.
Addressing a stark warning to Israel, Nasrallah said: “Not only we are capable of hitting the city of Tel Aviv, but also capable of hitting very specific targets in Tel Aviv and anywhere across Occupied Palestine.”
“The era in which we alone are displaced has ended. If you destroy one building in Dahiyeh, we will destroy several buildings in Tel Aviv. We are here to stay and they will vanish,” Nasrallah added.
Source: Naharnet
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