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Daily News Analysis

Hizbullah-led Alliance Wins Majority in Lebanese Election

Crescent International

Tuesday May 08, 2018

The people of Lebanon voted for stability and security in the parliamentary elections giving the Hizbullah-led alliance a comfortable majority with 67 out of 128 seats.

Hizbullah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said their gains guaranteed the protection of the “resistance” against Zionist Israel.

In a televised address a day after the elections, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah declared a “great political and moral victory for the resistance option that protects the sovereignty of the country.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Western and Saudi-backed Future Movement that had 33 seats in the outgoing parliament lost one-third of its seats and were reduced to 21 members in parliament.

A dejected Hariri conceded defeat in a televised speech although he would likely remain prime minister because of the convoluted political system imposed by the French colonialists in 1935.

Elections should have been held in 2013. The last election was held in 2009, nearly 10 years ago. Political manipulations by outside powers especially the US, France and Saudi Arabia, however, prevented fresh elections from being held.

This time, the first past the post system was replaced by proportional representation to reflect more accurately the will of the people.

The French-imposed system divides seats between Christians and Muslims equally: 64 each in parliament. There are further divisions among the two groups based on their religious affiliations. So the Muslim vote is split between Shias, Sunnis and Druze.

The system further stipulates that the prime minister should be a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim and the president a Maronite Christian.

The confessional nature of politics forces groups to enter into alliances. Thus, the

Hizbullah-led alliance includes the Amal Movement of Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement founded by President Michel Aoun.

Aoun became president in October 2016 after a political impasse was broken that also then led to Hariri becoming prime minister two months later.

Hizbullah was formed in 1983 as a resistance movement against the Zionist occupation of Lebanon. It struggled with great valor and was able to drive the bulk of Zionist forces from much of Southern Lebanon in May 2000.

The Zionists took up positions south of the Litani River but as a result of the July-August 2006 Israeli onslaught on Lebanon, the Zionists were pushed further back.

Now they occupy the Sheba Farms in South Lebanon and the border is patrolled by United Nations Multinational Forces.

Hizbullah is not just a resistance movement although it is the most effective resistance movement in the world. It is a social service organization running schools, hospitals and offering other social services.

It also enjoys immense political support in the country as the just-concluded election results show.

In the Western world it is illegally branded a ‘terrorist’ organization because it resists the Zionist invaders. The UN declares resistance to alien occupiers “by any means necessary” as legitimate. That is precisely what Hizbullah does.

Yet the hypocritical rulers of the West that are backing mercenary terrorists against a legitimate government in Syria cannot tolerate any challenge to their illegitimate child, the Zionist entity.

The people of Lebanon have given their verdict and they are with the resistance. This is a great victory for freedom and dignity.


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