BEIRUT (Dispatches) –
Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah said on Sunday it expected a parliamentary election to be held on time in May and there was no reason for delay.
“All indications are that the parliamentary elections will take place on time,” Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech on Sunday. “There is no development that prevents these elections from taking place,” he said.
The Maronite Christian patriarch also said on Sunday a decision by Lebanon’s Sunni politician to step back from politics and boycott a parliamentary election in May must not be used as an excuse to call for a delay,.
Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said he was surprised by three times-former prime minister Saad al-Hariri’s decision and said he hoped Sunnis would still take part so the election “expresses the position of all Lebanese.”
“Given the importance of this parliamentary (election), we must all confront attempts to circumvent it,” Rai said, noting the new parliament would elect President Michel Aoun’s replacement.
Referring to Hariri’s decision, he said “it is not allowed for some to invoke the new reality and promote the postponement of the parliamentary elections.”
President Michel Aoun on Saturday denied claims about a possible delay in parliamentary elections following Hariri’s decision to step away from politics, a statement by Lebanon’s Presidency said.
“We are carrying out all the necessary preparations for holding the elections on time, and I do not see any reason for delaying them,” Aoun said after meeting with Lebanon’s senior Sunni cleric Grand Mufti Abdul Latif Derian.
Hariri announced on Jan. 24 that he would suspend his involvement in the political scene, and would not run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The international community has, on many occasions, called for timely parliamentary elections in hope to see change and reform taking place in Lebanon.