Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called on the legislature to meet Tuesday, Dec. 7. (Credit: Ali Fawwaz/Parliament)
BEIRUT — Speaking ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday called on his supporters to “vote intensely to support the resistance,” a reference to Hezbollah’s weapons.
Here’s what we know:
• In his speech, Berri, who also heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, described the upcoming elections as “the most dangerous in the history of Lebanon.” He also accused some of “playing the sectarian card” in the elections, adding that to do so is “top treason for political purposes.”
• Berri also accused his rival lists “from the far right to the far left, and the ones that are affiliated with the embassies” of “focusing their campaign on the duo (Amal and Hezbollah) and on the resistance’s weapons.
• The Parliament speaker also said that the matter of alternatives to non-renewable energy is “a priority on our agenda for our MPs and ministers in the coming period.” Lebanon has struggled for decades to provide 24-hour power throughout the country, and since the onset of the economic crisis in 2019 the state-run electricity provider, Electricité du Liban, has failed to offer more than a handful of hours of power per day, leaving most of the country reliant on diesel generators for their electricity needs.
• Berri, who has been Parliament speaker since 1992, is running for Parliament in South Lebanon II, which includes the Sour and Zahrani districts.