Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Speaking on the eve of the launch of his party’s parliamentary elections campaign, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah expressed his certainty that the May 15 polls will go ahead, saying “do not think that there is anything that will lead to the postponement of the elections.” He also announced the party’s candidates in several constituencies.
Here's what we know:
• At the outset of his speech, Narallah said,“In some constituencies we have candidates, and in other constituencies we don’t, but there are voters who support us.” In some districts Hezbollah will be on lists with allies and friends, and in others the party may be on two lists that are "agreed upon" on the basis of electoral interests, he added.
• The Shiite party leader then went on to announce that “the candidates are the head of the Wafa bloc in the third district of the South, from Nabatieh District, Muhammad Raad, from Bint Jbeil, Hassan Fadlallah, from the Marjayoun District, Ali Fayyad.”
• In the constituency of Sour, the party's candidates are Hassan Ezz El-Din and Hussein Jashi, while in Beirut II Amin Shari will run, Nasrallah said.
• The candidate in the Zahle constituency is Rami Abu Hamdan, and the candidates for Baalbek-Hermel are Hussein Hajj Hassan, Ibrahim Al-Moussawi, Ihab Hamadeh and Ali Al-Miqdad, he added.
• In Baabda, Ali Ammar will run, while the candidate in Jbeil-Kesrouan is Raed Berro, he continued.
• During his televised address, he also noted that Hezbollah’s elections campaign will be launched on Thursday, reiterating the party’s chosen campaign slogan: “We will protect and build.”
• Nasrallah also in his speech accused some media of presenting Hezbollah as “managing the electoral process for itself and its friends and allies throughout the country.” However, “this is not true,” he said, adding that the party is ready to provide any “help and advice to friends and allies in the constituencies in which we do not have candidates.”
• On the topic of including young MPs on electoral lists, Nasrallah said, “It is correct in our opinion that as long as the old is still productive, useful, present and influential and has accumulated experience and knows people more and knows the laws and the power game and the entrances and exits, then it is better to continue with it while making sure to introduce new blood.”